


Making an effort

by Keuppy



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-14 03:29:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16905273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keuppy/pseuds/Keuppy
Summary: “Did you die though? Cause you’d look so cool on my shelf.”“That’s the most romantic thing ever.” Sally sat up and looked up at Larry. “Write that on my grave.”“The whole point of cremating you is not having a grave, Sal.”“My urn then.”Larry laughed and stepped back over to his easel.“I can see it now, ‘Sally Face’s remains. Looks great on a shelf.” Larry put his hands up for emphasis.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started this in February after chapter three came out and came back from the dead to finish it after the fourth came out. So note that this is after the Bologna incident and I added in a very small bit that's a nod to chapter four (Nothing spoilery).
> 
> This was intended to be a pwp but it took forever and there's very little porn at all.

For Sally Face, Fall was the best time of the year. It wasn’t even the crunch of leaves beneath his feet or the ungodly amount of free candy he got from the best holiday ever. It wasn’t even the season bringing in all the new horror films he and Larry would sneak out to see. No, the best thing was the weather. The cool breeze and warm air was perfect. He wasn’t sweating behind his prosthetic or freezing under it. Fall was the absolute best.

Too bad for Sally that it was now full on Winter. 

Snow was heavy on the ground, pilling up and, at least closing school down for a few days at a time. The Addison apartments didn’t do well in the cold. As much as Lisa tried to keep the heaters running, having nearly every apartment using them at once really did a number on the old machine, and Addison himself was, well, cheap. 

Sally was practically shaking in his own bed from the cold, covers pulled up and Gizmo under with him for extra heat. The cat didn’t mind the weather, he did have his own fur coat and all. But Sally didn’t fair so well. 

They say heat rises, so why was it that all the way up on the fourth floor he was so cold?

It was only past eleven when Sally found himself reaching out from behind his covers to grab his walkie off the nightstand.

“Larry?” Sally waited a moment before trying again. “Larry Face?”

“Sally Face?” Larry remarked back after a moment and Sally could practically hear the grin from the device. Larry was probably still awake then. It wasn’t that late for him after all. He was most likely painting or playing video games.

“Are you freezing right now, too?” Sally asked, pulling the walkie under the covers with him.

“Nah, it’s actually pretty nice down here. I think it’s cause the furnace is so close and all.”

“Furnace? I thought it was a water heater?” Sally replied.

“The warm making machine, then.” 

Sally grinned and sat up, bracing himself against the chill.

“Can I come enjoy the warm making machine too?” He asked.

“Hell yes you can. Mom is already in bed so we just have to keep it down to a dull roar.”

Sally set the walkie down for a moment to place his prosthetic back on. He glanced at the glass eye sitting in the cup and shuddered at the thought of how cold it would be to put it back in. 

“So, no roaring. What is a dull roar anyways? A meow?” Sally responded and glanced at Gizmo who meowed in kind. He chuckled and gave the cat a quick scratch behind the ears before biting the bullet and placing his eye back in the socket. It was cold as hell. Or rather, the opposite of hell. He wondered if it was possible to get brain freeze from how cold it was.

“Are you going to meow down here?” He heard Larry chuckle. Sally kept the blanket around himself as he pressed his feet into his slippers. 

“Only if you do it too so I don’t look stupid. I’m coming down.” Sally placed the walkie on the waistband of his pajama pants and shuffled out of his room, covers only slightly scrapping across the carpet as he went.

He looked at his dad’s door, noting that the light was off. He was asleep, if he was even home. Either way, Sally left a quick note and retreated to the even colder hallway.

As he waited for the elevator he tugged the blanket tighter, more than excited to be in the basement with Larry. His best friend was probably preparing his bean bag for him so he could sleep there. He grinned to himself, growing slightly warm at the thought of being welcomed by Larry.

The elevator dinged and Sally quickly, but quietly, moved through the hall. He stood at the door and pulled out the walkie again.

“Larry Face, I’m at the door and it’s freezing. I’m dying out here, you’ll have to bury me.”

“Bury you? That’s pretty metal. Can I cremate you? I could put you in my room.” 

Sally grinned again and waited quietly by the door. In moments it was opened for him. Larry stood before him, a little messier than he usually was. Paint was on his hands, shirt and even a bit on his pants. His hair was a little more unkempt than usual and his face was growing hair in awkward patches. His dark circles were slowly fading as time went on. He was perfect.

Larry ushered him inside and to his room.

The moment Sally was inside he was instantly warmer. He dropped his blanket on the bean bag and fell onto it, sighing loudly.

“It’s amazing in here.” He remarked, his voice slightly muffled.

“I told you.” Larry moved over to him and gave his leg a gentle nudge with his foot. “Did you die though? Cause you’d look so cool on my shelf.”

“That’s the most romantic thing ever.” Sally sat up and looked up at Larry. “Write that on my grave.”

“The whole point of cremating you is not having a grave, Sal.”

“My urn then.”

Larry laughed and stepped back over to his easel.

“I can see it now, ‘Sally Face’s remains. Looks great on a shelf.” Larry put his hands up for emphasis.

“That’s perfect. Just don’t get creepy and like, cut my hair off and put it on the urn.”

“Then how will people know it’s you?” Larry sat down on his stool, facing Sally.

“My name is on the urn.” Sally pointed out.

“Oh. Right.” Larry smiled and turned back to his canvas.

They fell into a comfortable silence, Larry painting, and Sally watching him.

Larry had long fingers. In another life, maybe he would have been a pianist. Or, still could be but probably for a keyboard guitar instead of an actual piano. He watched the carefully planned strokes of the brush, mixing colors and changing the painting as it went along. Larry loved dark colors, it was fitting. But, when he used softer, lighter colors, it was somehow more powerful. Today’s colors were soft hues, yellows, blues, purples even.

“So, what is it today? Another dream painting?” Sally asked, leaving his bean bag throne to stand behind Larry. He leaned in a bit to look closer with his good eye. Larry added a touch more blue and swirled it around on the canvas.

“Sort of?” He answered in a questioning tone. “I’m not sure, really. It just, feels right.”

Sally hummed and put a hand on Larry’s shoulder. He told himself it was to keep himself steady as he watched Larry’s hand make dizzying motions. Larry was even warmer than the room, he noted. He wondered if it was okay to even touch Larry like this. But, Larry didn’t say anything and didn’t move away so maybe it was alright.

“Do the colors represent anything?” 

Larry pulled his brush back and seemed to take a moment to think. 

“Life? Maybe? Or maybe emotions. I dunno, really.” He looked back at Sally, smiling up at him.

“What do you know?” Sally joked.

“I think, you’re the blue.” He stated before quickly looking back at the canvas. He dabbed the brush gently into the purple splotch of his tray and kept going.

What did that even mean? Sally stared at the painting.

“My hair?” He asked. Larry hummed in reply before swirling the purple with the blue.

“You. You just feel like blue. Y’know? Not in the gloomy way but like the clear sky or maybe the ocean?”

Sally felt his face heat up. Was- was that meant to say something?

“And um, what color are you then?” He asked, leaning a bit closer over Larry’s shoulder.

“I dunno. Orange?” Larry shrugged his shoulders. 

Sally bit his lip, a response building in his stomach, working up the courage to even speak now.

“Those uh, those colors contradict a lot. But, they work well together. A lot of cool action movies use oranges and blues in their movie posters.”

“They totally do! It’s weird cause they look like they wouldn’t work but then they do.” Larry reached for a small paint tube, the end of it all curled up from use. Paints would be a great Christmas gift, Sally mused.

“Like us.” Larry spoke again. “We work well together. Don’t you think?” He opened the tube and spread a dab of orange onto the pallet before dabbing a bit onto his brush.

“Larry, we’d be dead if we didn’t work together well.” Sally laughed softly. Larry mixed a bit of orange into the blue. It changed the painting dramatically. Sally liked it more now.

“You look cute with your hair down.” Larry spoke, not daring to face Sally himself. His fingers stilled for a moment before pressing on with the painting. 

If Sally were a robot he would have shut down, perhaps only saying error as he shorted out. Cute? He hadn’t noticed that he never put his hair back up. It was easier to keep it up. It helped keep his prosthetic on, one strap going above the pigtail and the other beneath it. He must have been so eager to get to Larry- to the warmth, that he never put it back up.

It wasn’t a big deal to have his hair down, but it wasn’t something he did often since the accident. 

“I,” Sally paused, words failing him. “Guess I forgot. I mean, you had me at warm making machine and I couldn’t get here fast enough.”

“That hurts, Sal. You only want me for my warm making machine.” Larry set his brush down into the cup of water, which, Sally had labeled for him after watching him mistakenly drink from it one too many times. 

“Larry, you are a warm making machine.” Sally looked at the finished work. It reminded him of the sunset but, more abstract.

“Are you implying that you’d use me?” Larry waggled his brows and Sally actually stepped back as he was overcome with laughter. Larry laughed with him, wiping his hands on his ratty shirt.

Their laughter died down and Sally had to catch his breath. He sat back onto the bean bag, wheezing softly as he continued to laugh.

“I’ve never seen your eyebrows move like that!” He put a hand over the mouth of his prosthetic, a reflex.

The laughter died instantly as the door opened and Lisa appeared at the other end. 

“You boys know I’m fine with Sally being here as much as he likes, but you’ve got to-“ She started.

“Dull roar.” Larry finished. “Sorry mom. We’re gonna head to bed.”

Lisa looked him over and smiled softly.

“Maybe shower first. You have paint all over you. It’s even on Sally’s shirt.” She responded and Sally looked down at his shirt. Oh. She was right. He must have gotten some from pressing against Larry earlier. Larry pulled his shirt down to look at it better.

“Can I see?” She asked as she stepped over to the canvas.

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” Larry grinned and proudly showed his work to her.

Sally watched her look over the painting, her hand resting on Larry’s shoulder as she smiled at him. Part of him wondered why he didn’t feel jealous of it. He missed his mom and Larry had one who was just as amazing as his own was. Maybe because he didn’t feel out of place in her home. Lisa was never shy about accepting Sally as her own. If anything, he felt warm. 

“You’re going to be rich one day, Larry. Then you can buy us a house with a nice heater.” She smiled, kissing a clean spot of Larry’s face. “It’s beautiful. Like the sunset at Van Gogh’s.”

“That’s not a bad name.” Larry smiled back at her, beaming with pride.

“Alright, you shower and both of you get some rest. I know school is canceled but your sleep shouldn’t be.” She remarked before walking over to Sally. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“You look so cute with your hair down, Sal.” Lisa walked back to the door. “Goodnight, boys.”

She closed the door behind her and Larry looked to Sally.

“You okay, dude?” He asked.

“Yeah. I’m good. Great actually.” He was. Really. Maybe a little choked up by the affection, but he felt so right here. 

“Alright. I’m gonna shower then. If you’re still cold we can share the bed. Go through my dresser for a clean shirt, since you have paint on yours now.” Larry removed his shirt and tossed it onto a pile of dirty clothes. Sally watched him walk into the adjoined bathroom, the door closing behind him.

Sally could only blink. He swore that if he got anymore worked up he would pass out from overheating. The room wasn’t as warm as it was moments ago so that helped.

The warm making machine was really on it’s last legs, he thought. Maybe if it finally went, Addison would replace it so poor Lisa wouldn’t have to keep fixing it. 

Sally rose from his seat again and shuffled over to the dresser. There was so much junk on and around it he wasn’t even sure he would be able to get it open let alone find a clean shirt. The top drawer stuck a bit and after a few tugs it finally opened for him. Sally dug through the drawer of shirts, trying to find one a little closer to his size. Larry was taller and a little broader than he was, so he would easily drown in Larry’s shirts, not to mention that Larry had baggy tees by choice already. With success, Sally pulled out a clean shirt. It was an old band tee, still too large for him but still something. He brought the shirt up to his prosthetic and inhaled. He told himself it was to make sure it was clean. It smelled like Larry, but, a clean Larry. If that made sense.

Sally quickly pulled off his long sleeve pajama top and tossed it over to where Larry’s paint covered shirt was. He quickly pulled it on and looked at himself in the mirror. His stomach churned pleasantly. He only wished he was wearing it because they were dating, not because he’d gotten dirty.

He turned to the bed and his stomach churned again.

Share a bed with Larry? It wouldn’t be impossible. It was a full-sized bed so they would both fit but they’d probably touch. Sally didn’t know if he could handle that. 

He could hear the water running from the other side of the door. It dawned on him that Larry was naked in there. He put his hands on his prosthetic, another reflex. He sighed and tried to push that thought away. And what was with Larry tonight anyways? Had he actually been flirting or was that just him joking? And what if he was joking? What would he think if Sally told him that he had a stupid crush on him? 

The water stopped, and Sally found himself looking between the door and the bed. If he was going to share the bed, he needed to decide now. He took the moment of boldness and shuffled to the bed, quickly climbing onto it. 

Did Larry even have clean clothes in the bathroom?

He could hear the door opening and he quickly looked away, choosing to stare at the drying paint instead of a possibly naked Larry. There was a moment of silence before he heard the damp footsteps on the concrete floor. 

Curiosity killed the cat. 

Sally looked at Larry, who, wasn’t naked but wasn’t dressed either. He had his towel wrapped around his waist and Sally hated that he enjoyed the view so much.

Satisfaction brought it back.

Sally’s face heated up as he watched Larry move to the dresser. He was still wet and his hair was sticking, well, everywhere. He felt himself swallow his nerves.

“If you want to sleep without your prosthetic, you can face one way and I’ll face the other. I don’t feel like it would be comfortable to sleep in.” Larry glanced at him, going silent as he stared. Sally was sitting upright and staring back. Did he look weird? Was there paint on his prosthetic? Why was Larry just staring?

“Sally Face?” Larry paused and stepped over to the bed, waving a hand in front of Sally’s face. “Sally Face?”

Sally blinked and Larry moved a bit closer.

“You still with me?” 

Sally shifted. He was very much with Larry right now.

“Larry Face?” He replied.

“Oh good, I thought you went away for a second.” Larry breathed a sigh of relief before sitting on the bed, still clad in only his towel. As he pulled on a shirt

Sally was very aware of how close Larry was right now. His fight or flight response was screaming at him. He stayed in place though, it was too cold in his room anyways. He didn’t want to leave now.

“I’m gonna get dressed and dry my hair.” Larry told him, making sure Sally was still with him.

“Isn’t that going to take forever with all that hair?” Sally finally replied. Larry rose to his feet and whipped his hair around for emphasis.

“It’s worth it.” Larry moved back into the bathroom and closed the door. Within moments, the hair drier was on and buzzing.

Sally placed a hand over his still-racing heart. He needed to calm down. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He was sure that if he told Larry he liked guys Larry would be perfectly fine and it wouldn’t change them. But if he told Larry that he liked him? That was another question. Crushes could ruin any friendship and he didn’t want to lose Larry. He was too important.

After some time, the drier finally stopped and Sally found himself opening his eyes to wait for him.

Would Larry even like him if he took his prosthetic off? Would it be too much for him? Sally didn’t like being without his prosthetic anyways.

The door opened, and Larry finally stepped out, now sans towel, but with pants. Sally was mildly disappointed.

“See? Worth it.” Larry grinned and moved over to the bed, his hair looking much better than when Sally first arrived. Maybe a good conditioner would be a good gift too. 

“Does all that headbanging mess it up?” Sally joked, moving a bit to make more room. 

“It only makes it better.” Larry shifted the covers for them and Sally thought for a moment about grabbing his that was still on the bean bag. Sharing the blanket would mean better heat, and it would mean he would be closer to Larry.

“Ready to sleep, dude? Like I said, if you wanna sleep without your prosthetic, it’ll be too dark for me to see anyways. It’s your choice.” He reached over to his nightstand and turned off the light. 

Sally loved that about him. He was so…chill. About everything. Sally felt a little guilty for never showing him. He trusted Larry fully, but his face was something he didn’t show anyone accept the doctor or Gizmo. Larry always made it his choice, always trying to make Sally comfortable. 

“If it gets uncomfortable, maybe.” Sally responded before settling himself on his side of the bed. Larry lied down beside him and pulled the blanket over them.

Sally closed his eyes and laid on his back, it was the only way he could sleep without moving his prosthetic. He felt the bed shift as Larry moved a bit closer. Sally wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight with him so close.

“Sally Face?” Larry spoke, making Sally jump. “Sorry, I just wanted to see if you were still cold.”

“Uh, kind of. Warmer than I was in my room though. Even with Gizmo.” Sally felt Larry shift again, laying on his side and way too close.

“Then um.” Larry seemed to lose his words, or the nerve to say them. Instead, he moved an arm under Sally and pulled him close. Sally swore he was going to stop working entirely. 

Larry was careful in his movements, gently shifting them both until Sally’s back was pressed fully against Larry’s front. Sally didn’t think he could get any warmer at this point. 

“Is this okay?” Larry’s voice was low, speaking softly against Sally’s ear. It made Sally shiver.

“Yeah.” Sally tried to relax against Larry, but his nerves were wracked. How was Larry so comfortable with this? Maybe he was overthinking. Larry was the only close friend he’d ever had so maybe this was kind of normal. Sally tried not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Was it bad to enjoy this?

Sally closed his eyes and focused on the sound of Larry’s breathing as it evened out. He shifted his head and even fluffed the pillows to try and make himself comfortable. A tough task with his prosthetic, but he didn’t want to risk Larry seeing him or Lisa coming in and seeing him without it. He was comfortable enough to sleep for a bit at least.

Behind him, Larry was already fast asleep. Sally could feel where Larry’s hands were placed on his body. One was by his shoulder and the other was resting against his stomach. Sally moved his hand up towards the hand resting on his stomach. He ran his fingertips over the back of Larry’s hand. He let his hand rest on top of Larry’s and let himself drift to sleep.

Sally was woken a short time later by a clanking sound. Larry shifted behind him, tightening his hold on Sally as he lifted his head.

“Wuh?” Larry mumbled as he looked around in the darkness. Within moments, the room cooled down. 

“I think our warm making machine finally died.” Sally said, keeping his hand near his prosthetic just in case.

“Oh. That sucks.” Larry laid his head back down on his pillow. Sally could only imagine that he was closing his eyes again. Larry always seemed to fall asleep quickly and nearly anywhere. Class was a favorite place of his to sleep until the teacher noticed.

“It’s already getting colder.” Larry spoke again. Sally hummed, closing his eyes again. At least, until he felt Larry’s fingertips clutch gently into the front of his shirt. Sally tensed up against him. He knew it was because Larry was seeking heat not trying to cop a feel.

“You’re really that cold already?” Sally teased him, gently nudging his elbow back against him.

“We could get super warm if we did it the way people do when they have hypothermia.” Larry chuckled against him, his breath tickling at Sally’s neck.

“Larry. One, we aren’t going to get hypothermia. Two, there’s better ways of getting me naked than saying hypothermia.” Sally smirked but rolled his eyes. He was trying to keep the mood light, to keep from giving himself away.

“There’s better ways?” Now that got Sally’s full attention. He couldn’t quite ignore something like that. Larry was definitely flirting with him. Right? Larry was flirting with him? Larry was flirting?

“Larry are you flirting with me?” He felt Larry shift beside him in the darkness. He had sat up and was now looking down at Sally. Again, it was too dark to really see, but he was trying to look anyways.

“Did I go too far? Shit. I don’t wanna push you if you’re not ready.” Now Sally was sitting up too. He was really trying to wrap his mind around what was happening. His heart also wouldn’t calm down as it thrummed loudly against his ribs.

“I’m confused.” Sally pushed his hair out of the eye holes of his prosthetic. He felt the bed shift as Larry got off the bed and flicked on the lamp by his desk. He cursed at the cold that was filling the room before quickly climbing back onto the bed. 

“I know we’re taking it slow. I guess I got too excited?” Larry pulled the blanket up a bit so it stayed in their laps. He was trying to keep some warmth in the covers. 

Sally blinked. He opened his mouth and closed it again and then blinked again. Now he was really confused. Larry lost him somewhere along the way and he was drowning from the new information that didn’t click. Until it did.

“We’re dating?” Sally looked up at Larry who was rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Aren’t we? Fuck. Did I get that wrong? Dude, I thought we were dating for like months. I just thought you wanted us to take it slow.” 

Sally went silent again. Larry managed to make him malfunction twice in one night. A new record. Larry thought they were dating. He had apparently been dating Larry for months now with no knowledge of it whatsoever. He felt stupid. Wait. Larry thought they were dating… Larry wanted that. Larry wanted to date him! 

The cogs in Sally’s brain seemed to catch and he sat there quietly processing.

“Sally?” Larry hesitated before placing his hand on Sally’s shoulder. Sally jumped as he was pulled from his thoughts and finally glanced up at Larry.

“You actually want to date me?” He muttered softly, certain that somehow, he’d gotten this all wrong. Why would Larry want to date him?

“I do. Why? Should I not want to?” Larry’s fingers squeezed his shoulder gently. “If you don’t want to date then we don’t have to.”

That sent Sally’s mind to a screeching halt. 

“I do!” He stiffened immediately and shrank down a bit. He forgot that Lisa was sleeping. Or at least he thought she was. Who knows if they were already calling for her to try and fix the heater again.

“Sorry.” Sally spoke again, softer now. “I do. I really do. I didn’t think you’d uh, want to but I guess you do seeing as you’ve been dating me for a while and I’ve been oblivious to it.”

Larry chuckled and scooted a little closer to Sally.

“So we’re not taking it super duper slow then?” He asked.

“Not unless you want to.” Sally smiled and slowly reached out, his fingertips touching the top of Larry’s hand, silently asking permission.

“I wanna go at your pace.” Larry turned his hand over and laced their fingers together. They’d both forgotten the cold altogether, finding warmth in each other. Larry’s free hand settled on the side of Sally’s neck, his fingers were a little cold, making Sally shiver.

“Then…” Larry shifted nervously, staring down at him. “Can I kiss you? Not to be dramatic but I’ve been waiting months to kiss you.”

Oh right. That was a thing. Kissing. It was a definite thing. Sally’s stomach churned with dread. He knew that meant removing his prosthetic. It was a big step for him. For them both really.

“Okay. Just um- close your eyes.” He was scared. If Larry saw his face would he want to be with him? Sally chastised himself immediately. Larry wasn’t like that. He wasn’t shallow or petty. Hell, he wanted to date Sally without even knowing what he looked like at all. 

Larry grinned and closed his eyes. Sally couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or not that Sally wanted him to close his eyes. He was patient when it came to Sally. The fact that he thought they were dating for months despite never even holding hands was a case point.

Sally let go of Larry’s hand and carefully removed his prosthetic, settling it in his lap for quick access. He studied Larry’s face for a moment before reaching out with a hand. His thumb brushed over the mole under his eye and he smiled. He wondered if this was what love felt like. He never wanted to stop looking at him or being with him. It’s all he wanted. Well, he wanted to kiss him too. He watched as Larry’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. He was thrumming with energy from the anticipation. Sally hoped it was worth it for him.

Sally closed his own eyes and slowly leaned in until their lips touched. It was soft and warm. Sally wanted to wrap himself up in the feeling. In an instant, Larry’s other hand moved to the other side of Sally’s neck to lean in deeper. Sally wondered if he chose his neck to avoid possibly hurting his face. It was a small but thoughtful act of kindness that reassured him that Larry really did want him. There was no one he trusted more to give his heart to than Larry.

He felt Larry pull him in a little closer. They were sloppy, but they’d never done this before. Larry was smiling against him and he smiled back. It wasn’t until he felt his tongue pressing at his lips that he pulled back a bit to break the kiss.

He looked at Larry, who’s eyebrows were up in a silent question, his eyes were shut tight but he looked like he desperately wanted to open them. It spoke waves about how much he respected Sally. He had several opportunities to peek but never acted on them. 

“Sorry, too much?” Larry asked, sounding sheepish. 

“You just surprised me.” Sally brushed his thumb over Larry’s mole again. He idly wondered if Larry would ever let him draw constellations on him.

“Did you wanna stop?” Larry asked, his fingers gently gliding down Sally’s neck, sending shivers down his spine.

“I want you to see me.” Sally said, a moment of boldness coming through. “I’m just scared of what you’d think.”

Larry smiled, his eyes staying closed still. The room was dimly lit from the small lamp but it was still a big step for Sally to give. He trusted Larry more than he’d trusted anyone before. He was so used to hiding. Even his doctors flinched when he took it off for regular check-ups. The only one who never flinched was Gizmo. It made it hard to want to show himself when even medical professionals who have likely seen worse reacted negatively.

“Sal. No matter what you look like, I like you. If you don’t feel ready to show me then don’t show me. I wanna see you, but not until you’re ready to be seen.”

Sally moved forward, pulling Larry into another kiss. He felt Larry jump from surprise before his lips curled up into a smile as he kissed him back. Sally’s hands moved to Larry’s chest and he pushed him back. His intention was to push Larry onto his back on the bed but in the dim lighting and in the heat of the moment, Larry ended up halfway off the bed. Sally yelped and grabbed at Larry’s shirt, keeping him from smacking his head against the floor.

“Fuck, Larry, I didn’t mean to do that.” Sally whispered, staring down at Larry. Larry was laughing now, his hand over his mouth to try and keep quiet. His eyes were opened.

“You know, there’s better ways to kill me, Sal.” Sally huffed and pulled him by his shirt to get him back onto the bed in one piece. It took a moment for Sally to even register that his prosthetic was on the bed and Larry was smiling at him. It was overwhelming. His chest tightened painfully. Larry didn’t look away from him, even as he started crying.

“Whoa whoa. It’s okay, Sal. I know you didn’t mean to push me off the bed.” Larry frowned, afraid he’d upset Sally. His hands moved up to gently cup Sally’s face, brushing a tear away with his thumb. Larry always felt awkward when people were upset, he didn’t know how to make it better. 

Sally couldn’t stop himself. He’d been so prepared for Larry to look away or flinch. But he did neither. He was comforting, kind, and it made Sally feel raw. Larry offered him smiles and soft touches. It’s like he was able to break down all of his walls with just his eyes.

“Sally?” Larry shifted closer and pulled Sally into a hug, allowing the other to press into his neck and clutch to his shirt. 

“It’s okay, dude.” Larry rubbed gentle circles into Sally’s back. Sally sniffled gently, pressing his cheek to Larry’s shoulder. 

“If I’m your boyfriend I don’t think dude is appropriate.” He mumbled from his hiding place. It was a very nice place. He would rent it if he had money.

“Dude is a very loving term.” Larry chuckled softly. He dipped his hands under the back of Sally’s shirt, making the smaller stiffen up from the cold touch. “I’m a very loving guy, dude.”

“I know that, you don’t have to shove your cold hands into my shirt to prove it.” Sally pinched Larry’s side, satisfied when Larry laughed again. 

They both jumped when they heard a door closing in the hallway. They broke apart and Larry handed Sally his prosthetic. Sally quickly set it into place and they shifted further away from each other as they heard a knock on the door.

“Boys? The heater finally kicked it. There’s extra blankets in the hall if you need them. I can’t do anything about it until the morning.” Lisa didn’t open the door this time.

“Thanks mom! Is Addison gonna replace it?” Larry shouted.

“He said yes, but I’m sure he’ll end up getting a cheap used one that’s half broken down but I’ll stay optimistic.” She replied, her smile was clear in her voice.

“Maybe we could get the residents to rally for one.” Sally added.

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” Larry grinned. “Guess we know what we’re doing tomorrow.”

“Thanks, boys. Now really, go to bed okay? I love you both.” Lisa gave a gentle pat to the door before padding off. 

Larry got out of bed and switched off the lamp light before quickly diving back into the warmth of the bed. He laid back down and waited for Sally to lay back down before he pulled the blanket over them both. 

“Hang on.” Sally said as he felt Larry shifting close again. He removed his prosthetic and set it on his side of the bed. He wondered if that was why Lisa didn’t come in this time, maybe she thought he didn’t have it on and didn’t want to surprise him. Or maybe she was more aware of what they were doing than he thought.

As soon as Sally was laying down again, Larry pulled him close, wrapping his arms around him again. It was an easier touch now that they’d talked. Sally was grateful for how easy it came to both of them. He was more touched starved than he previously thought and Larry seemed to be great at initiating it for the both of them.

“I promise I wont shove you off the bed this time.” Sally laid on his side, facing Larry in the darkness. Larry chuckled again.

“I’ll take you with me if you do.” He promised. He pressed their foreheads together and ran his fingertips softly up and down Sally’s arms, well aware of the goosebumps he was making.

Sally closed his eyes and let himself relax under the touch.

“Sal?” Larry’s voice was a whisper. Sally hummed in response, letting Larry know he was listening.

“Thanks for trusting me.” Larry kissed his forehead before shifting them both so they’d be comfortable. Sally was happily pressed into his chest, their legs tangled together and Larry was sure his arm would be dead in a matter of minutes but it was worth it.

 

Sally grunted as he was shifted. There was a pressure against his back and he was about to turn and pick up Gizmo when he remembered where he was. Gizmo was not in the bed with him. Because he was in Larry’s bed. And the pressure against his back was not from Gizmo. 

Sally’s face heated up and he could swear that his heart stopped in his chest. He must have rolled over while he slept and ended up with his back pressed to Larry’s front. He was well aware of exactly what was pressed against him right now. He knew it was just from sleeping and that he hadn’t caused it or that Larry wasn’t having a good dream. It was just biology.

Stupid fucking biology.

He bit his lip and cursed biology itself because he was reacting to it. Should he wake Larry? Should he crawl away in the darkness and take care of himself in the bathroom?

He opted for the latter but found that Larry had a great grip on him. His arm was wrapped around his waist under his body and his other arm was draped over Sally’s body. Sally wondered how awkward it would be if he woke Larry up.

His mind froze and his body seized up as Larry shifted against him, a soft noise passing his lips and falling right into Sally’s ear. Alarms were going off in Sally’s head and he had no evacuation plan. 

The arm on top of his body moved and of course, Larry’s hand shifted against his groin. Of course. Why wouldn’t it?

Sally pressed his back further against Larry’s chest, hoping to rouse him into waking. He was hoping he could feign sleep and let Larry slink out of bed since he was the one wrapped around Sally right now. He heard Larry grumble in his sleep and he tried again. His efforts seemed to have the opposite effect he desired as he shifted unwittingly against Larry’s front. That was definitely a low groan. He was only making it worse!

He was left with no choice.

Sally redoubled his efforts, this time with purpose. He pressed his back to Larry’s front again and ground himself against him. If he was stuck here suffering with a hard on then he would make Larry suffer with him. It was only fair.

Larry groaned again, his arms pulling back. 

Yes! Sally silently cheered. This meant he could escape to the bathroom.

Larry’s hands gripped Sally’s hips and he rolled his hips against Sally.

No!

Larry was definitely not helping his situation. It was about to be their situation as soon as he woke up.

Sally bit his lip as Larry nuzzled into his neck, allowing Sally a full orchestra of his increasing noises. 

Sally was fucked. He was down to his last option.

“Larry?” He whispered, unaware of the hour. Being in the basement didn’t help because it was dark in there no matter what time it was. It could be noon and it was pitch black in the room.

He could feel Larry’s fingers grip a little tighter as he rolled his hips once more, sighing into Sally’s ear again. 

“Oh my god.” Sally felt his body heat up. He needed to deal with this now.

“Larry, you’ve gotta wake up.” Sally nudged his arm back against Larry’s chest. When it didn’t work right away he added more pressure until he earned a groan from him. A groan that was unhappy to be woken up.

The room was silent again and neither moved. Sally was sure Larry was only now just realizing the situation and was processing how to deal with it properly.

“Fuck.” 

There he was.

“Sally?” Larry’s hands relaxed from their grip but didn’t make an effort to retreat.

Sally had another choice: feign sleep or fess up. Both would be awkward. And if they were going to be in a real relationship it probably wasn’t best to start out by pretending to be asleep when your boyfriend grinded against you. 

“I’d say good morning, but I think you’re already having a great one back there.” Sally tried to keep the mood light and playful, not wanting to make Larry think that he was doing something wrong. If anything, Sally would encourage continuing but only if Larry was awake and aware of what he was doing to him.

“Fuck. Sorry.” Larry went to pull back but Sally grabbed his arm, keeping a loose hold so Larry could pull away if he wanted.

“I feel like this is a typical third date thing, but we’re not really typical.” Sally swallowed his nerves and rolled himself over to face Larry in the dark again.

“We’re not.” Larry replied. Sally knew he was smiling. 

“Sal. Do you,” Larry paused, trying to find the right words or maybe the courage to continue. “Do you want me to touch you?”

“If you don’t, I’m going to do it myself.” Sally felt around blindly in the dark and took Larry’s hands in his own.

“Fuck. I wanna see that.” That threw Sally for a loop. He wasn’t expecting a reply like that. It just added fuel to his fire already churning in his stomach.

“If you leave the bed to turn the light off-“ Sally started in a half complaint.

“I won’t. Just, maybe next time?” Larry raised up one of Sally’s hands and kissed his wrist. 

“Let’s focus on this time.” Sally pressed his body closer to Larry’s as Larry continued to kiss down his arm. “This is very Gomez Addams of you.”

He felt Larry smile into his arm as he traveled up to his neck. 

“Want me to call you stuff in French?”

Sally chuckled at that. He doubted that Larry even knew a single word of French, let alone how to pronounce it. But any sassy remark fell off his tongue the moment he was being kissed again. The bed creaked as Larry shifted his weight on it, moving until his knees were pressed into the bed against either side of Sally. He worked on pushing up the too-big shirt on Sally as he slowly licked at his mouth. Sally sighed softly as Larry’s warm hands slid up his chest. 

He’d deny that the noise that came out of him was a squeak when Larry dared to pinch his nipples. Larry pulled back a touch and laughed.

“You’re so cute, Sal.” 

Sally was both glad and bitter that the room was dark. On one hand, Larry wouldn’t be able to see just how red his face must be. On the other, he couldn’t see Larry.

“I could still kick your ass.” Sally reached up and snapped the waistband of Larry’s sleep pants.

“I know, baby.” 

Now Sally was just glad that it was dark in the room because he knew he was gaping up at Larry. Sally didn’t know why people called each other by stupid pet names but wow, it clicked now. It was weird just how much he liked that.

Instead of responding, because he knew words would fail him, he chose action. He bit his lip as he pressed the heel of his palm against Larry’s dick through his pants. He felt Larry shudder under his touch. Oh, that was satisfying.

Larry leaned in again to kiss Sally as his own hands retreated from under his shirt and moved to push down Sally’s own sleep pants. Larry was fully cursing the darkness. He wanted to see him.

“Is this okay?” Larry stilled above Sally, trying his hardest to not grind down into Sally’s hand. He wanted to make sure Sally was fully on board. It was almost annoyingly sweet.

“Yes. Come on, Larry.” Sally shifted his hips impatiently. 

It must have been the magic word because Larry wrapped his hand around his dick in an instant. This really was a big day for them both, he mused.

“Fuck.” Sally groaned and lifted his hips up into Larry’s hand. Which reminded him that he should definitely be doing the same right now. 

He shoved down Larry’s pants and slid his hand down his stomach blindly until he found his goal.

“Holy shit, Larry.” He curled his fingers around his dick. Although it was dark, he could feel how big he was. Now he was back on the fence about the darkness. 

“Yeah, baby?” And there It was again. It was hotter than it had any right to be. How could Larry calling him baby make him feel like that? 

Sally groaned again, lifting his head to seek out his boyfriend’s lips again. Two very good b-words had rolled into his life tonight. 

Sally cursed and placed his free hand around the back of Larry’s neck to help guide himself into another kiss. It wasn’t graceful, but it felt good. And oh Larry’s hand felt good. It was working slowly, giving gentle twists with each upstroke. The bastard even dared to rub his thumb against the head. This just started and Sally knew that it wouldn’t last long like this. 

He had to up his own game here.

He lifted his hips again until they were touching. He had a plan.

Sally wrapped his hand around both of them and started to stroke them together. It was a good plan if Larry’s panting was something to go by.

“Sally.” Larry inhaled sharply and placed his own hand over Sally’s so they worked together. 

The fiend.

Larry kissed Sally once more before he began kissing down his neck again. And then he bit.

The absolute madman.

Sally whined as Larry licked at the bite. One he knew he was going to at least be able to hide with a scarf. It was the only reason he wasn’t smacking Larry. Of course, it was also because Larry started to suck on the bite and it caused Sally to stop thinking all together.

The glorious bastard.

He wouldn’t last long like this. Not with the way Larry’s hand moved with his own and the noises Larry was making into his ear. 

“Larry.” Sally moaned out, his hips thrusting into their hands. He wanted it to last but he knew he wouldn’t make it much longer.

“Come on, Sal.” Larry sped up their pace, nipping at a new spot closer to his ear. One that would be harder to hide. 

Sally wanted to see him. He ached for it. He wanted to see how good Larry felt right now, with him touching him. There would hopefully be a next time. Maybe Sally would even leave his prosthetic off.

“Larry. Fuck.” 

“I’ve got you, baby. Come for me.” Larry was playing dirty. Who said he could talk like that? Who allowed this? Sally would have to thank them later.

Sally let go of Larry’s neck and placed his hand around his mouth. He moaned behind his hand as he arched up against Larry’s body and finally came. He shuddered through his orgasm as Larry pressed further into his neck. 

“Larry, please.” It was Sally’s turn to fight dirty. 

“Come on, Larry.” In an instant, Larry was groaning into his neck, shuddering from his own orgasm with a long stream of curses mixed with Sally’s name.

In hind sight, it was probably a bad idea to jerk each other off in bed when it was freezing outside of the bed. Because now they were going to have to face leaving the bed, cleaning up, and changing. All cold things. 

For now though, Larry collapsed beside Sally with a content sigh. He grabbed at Sally and pulled him close again. Sally learned quickly that Larry was a cuddler.

“Sorry for bitting.” Larry mumbled, sleep heavy in his voice.

“You have to get me something to hide it. And don’t pass out because we are not falling asleep in this mess.” Sally hated to be the bad guy because all he wanted was to curl into Larry’s warmth and knock out. But, unfortunately, that wasn’t a good idea. At least the washing machine was close by. 

“I’ll get you the nicest scarf ever.” Larry let go of Sally and reached around the bed. Sally really hoped he didn’t pull a dirty sock out. 

To Sally’s surprise, Larry had grabbed the towel he used earlier to shower with. It was still damp from earlier and cold as hell. But Larry was gentle as he worked to clean them up. Sally was just grateful that his pants were clean because he wouldn’t be able to fit in Larry’s and he obviously couldn’t risk going up four floors for a clean pair. 

“Maybe next time we’ll have a little light?” Larry’s voice was quiet. He was being shy now? They’d touched dicks and now he was shy?

“Next time.” Sally agreed. Even in the dark, Sally could feel Larry fist pump.

He was absolutely smitten. 

Satisfied with clean job, Larry tossed the towel into the corner of the room with his pile of dirty clothes and once again, grabbed at Sally. Sally chuckled and eased into Larry’s arms. Sally had never felt so content and warm. For once, life was kind to him. 

Larry kissed the back of his neck and mumbled what was likely a good night to Sally. Sally closed his eyes and smiled.

Tomorrow they would talk to the tenants about making Addison get a new heater. Tonight, he was going to sleep while wrapped up in his boyfriend’s arms.


	2. Self indulgent chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve no excuse for this except that I have been adding to this during all of my free time in the last two days. I didn’t expect to make a second chapter but here we are.

The daylight offered no more warmth from the cold when it came to these dead winter days. The sun was hidden behind layers of clouds that just added to the high amount of snow on the ground. It really was always a white Christmas here. Not that it was Christmas quite yet.

The fresh snow crunched under his boots in an almost satisfying way. Larry lifted his boot up and looked down at the print he left. He and Sally were currently waiting at the front of the apartment complex for his mom. Lisa was driving home with a brand new heater and they were ready to help her.

Sally was bundled up more than Larry was, although it was partially due to the marks left on his neck. Larry was in no way ashamed of himself for it. He wanted to hold Sally’s hand but they were outside and he wasn’t sure if Sally was ready for that step yet. 

He glanced over at Sally, who was currently curling his fingers into his scarf to warm them. Sally didn’t have mittens either.

“Dude.” Larry gave him a gentle nudge and held out his hand. He had to try. Sally seemed to consider it for a long moment before he laced his fingers with Larry’s. He was more flustered by the grin Larry gave him than by the hand holding itself. 

Larry shone so brightly sometimes that it was hard to stare at him for too long. Sally feared he would be engulfed by the light itself. Of course, Larry wasn’t always beaming with happiness. Like anyone else, he wasn’t always happy or strong. Sally had seen him cry many times before and each time ate away at him. There was a part of him that was happy to know that Larry could show that part of himself to him. And Sally could trust Larry with his own heart, broken pieces and all.

It wasn’t easy to be strong all the time, Sally knew that all too well. Sally was beginning to catch on when Larry wasn’t okay and started figuring out what he could do to help. There were days when Larry would just paint for hours on end. He hardly left his room on those days. So Sally would sit with him. He would sometimes talk about things, knowing Larry was content to just listen. And of course, Sally would bring him water and get him to take a break for meals.

Now that they were dating, he wondered how it might change. Maybe he could get Larry to just crawl into bed and hold him until he felt okay again. And maybe Larry could do the same for him.

“So,” Larry pulled him from his thoughts. “Are we uh, hiding?”

Sally gently swayed their hands together, his thumb rubbing lazy circles into Larry’s hand.

“I’m not scared of what people think of me. I haven’t for a long time. But I don’t want them to harass you for it.” Sally stared out at the road ahead. 

“I’ll just beat them up if they try.” Larry gave Sally’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I mean, I don’t expect us to be as lovey as Todd and Neil.”

“What, you don’t wanna hand feed me fries during lunch and call me cute pet names?” Sally put his free hand on his chest, feigning pain. Larry laughed at that. 

“I could go outside the apartment under your window and play you metal songs as I told you how I can count the ways I love you.” 

Sally quickly looked up at Larry.

“They did that?!” He was almost upset that he’d missed it.

“No! But it would be awesome!” Larry laughed harder. “Oh! Mom’s here!”

The truck slowly pulled up to the front of the apartment and the breaks squeaked as it stopped. The engine shut off quickly and Lisa slid out of the truck, nearly slipping as she did. Both boys were quick to move to her side.

“You didn’t have to wait outside. It’s freezing out!” She smiled at them both, placing her hands on their shoulders.

Sally’s heart swelled in his chest. He was happy to have her in his life and he would do everything he could to protect her.

“If we weren’t out here then you’d do it all yourself.” Larry knew her too well. He moved to the back of the truck and opened the back. The truck was a rental but he was familiar with the model since they used it often enough for the apartment. He climbed into the back and started working the lift as Sally pushed the dolly to the truck.

“I told you that you could help, not do the whole job.” Lisa smiled at them and stood beside Sally as they waited for the lift to hit the ground.

“You’ll be installing it anyways. We want to help.” Sally added, his hands keeping hold on the dolly. He knew Lisa was still recovering from being sick. She’d lost a bit of weight and it still showed in her face. Sally would do whatever he could to make her life easier.

With the three of them working together, they managed to get the new heater inside and down to the basement with relative ease. Larry stayed beside Lisa as she got to work installing it, Sally took to the important job of making hot cocoa for them. 

As he moved around in the small kitchen, he thought to himself about learning to cook. It wasn’t something that interested him but if he did it, Lisa wouldn’t always have to. He could spend some spare time learning to cook. If anything, he could make sure that Lisa gained some weight back.

Sally carefully poured the cocoa into the mugs and stepped out of the kitchen, awkwardly juggling the three mugs as traveled to the end of the hallway. Larry was dutifully handing different tools to Lisa and holding the flashlight for her when needed. He was a good guy. Sally considered himself damned lucky.

Larry stopped whatever conversation he was mumbling on about as he spotted Sally. He offered him a smile and nudged Lisa’s leg to get her attention. She moved away from the backside of the heater and wiped her brow. 

“Thanks, Sal.” She smiled warmly at him and carefully took the mug. “I’m just about done here. Why don’t you two run off? You’ve helped me plenty today.”

Larry took his mug and looked at Sally. 

“You sure?” Sally knew that Larry was more protective over his mom since she was still getting better. They didn’t want her to overwork herself. But they also knew how stubborn she could be.

“I’m sure. It’s almost done so go play some games or something.” She set her mug down and smiled at them as she picked up her tools again.

Larry nodded, knowing full well that they couldn’t change her mind. They took their mugs and retreated back to Larry’s room. Sally set his mug down on the desk and let himself plop down onto Larry’s bed and lay down. They washed the bedding in the morning so it still smelled fresh. 

“So what did you wanna do?” Larry sat beside Sally, his hand playfully pushing up to press cold fingers into Sally’s skin. Sally jumped and smacked at Larry’s hand.

“I think I want to learn to cook. So Lisa doesn’t have to. She could relax more.” Sally grabbed Larry’s wrist, keeping the cold fingers away.

“Oh. That’s not a bad idea. She’s always so tired. She works too much.” Larry moved to sit on Sally’s thighs, his free hand moving under his shirt now. Sally chuckled and grabbed that hand too. Sally retaliated by tugging both of Larry’s arms down, pulling his body down closer. He didn’t expect Larry to kiss the mouth of his prosthetic. He really did like to play dirty.

“You play dirty.” Sally tried to move his legs from under Larry.

“I play to win.” Larry grinned and eased himself off of Sally.

“It’s a hollow victory when you cheat.” Sally sat up, his heart racing.

“Says who?” Larry leaned over again, letting Sally choose what to do. Sally lifted his prosthetic just enough to kiss Larry. Larry smiled against him, hands settling over Sally’s again. It was just a quick kiss, but it was warm and full of emotion.

Larry pulled back a bit and smiled at him. He helped Sally adjust his prosthetic back into place and rose to his feet. 

He was full of energy.

“We should go ice skating.” Larry practically dove into his closet at that. Digging around in the mess of clothing and trash.

“I don’t know how.” Sally replied, watching as Larry kept digging. He wondered just how much junk he had in his room. He would offer to help but he didn’t know what Larry was after. It was “an organized mess” as Larry stated. He insisted he knew where everything was but was clearly lying. Larry finally reemerged, holding up a pair of old skates that have seen much better days.

“Are those even going to fit you?” Sally laughed as Larry finally realized that, no, they were not.

“Maybe they’ll fit you?” He slid over to the end of the bed and pulled at Sally’s legs until they dangled off the bed. “Let’s see if you’re Cinderella.”

“If I am then I’m sad I missed out on the ball.” Sally sat up and watched as Larry untied one of his shoes. He pulled the laces loose on the skate before sliding the shoe onto Sally. 

“It fits! We should totally go!” Larry grinned and pulled the skate off, satisfied with the fit. Sally couldn’t say no to him. Not when he was clearly excited like this.

“Okay but if I fall-“

“You won’t I swear! I’ll catch you before you do!” Larry stood up and grabbed his coat. “We could even get dinner while we’re out.”

Sally blinked.

“Larry, are you taking me on a date?” 

Larry turned and stared down at Sally, a blush tinting his cheeks. He looked shy again and it took all of his willpower to not surge up and kiss him again. He was nervous and rubbing the back of his neck, which, Sally learned was his reflex when he was shy.

“Do you wanna go on a date with me?” Larry asked, his voice low and nearly silent. Sally stood up and moved over to where Larry stood. He took Larry’s hands in his own.

“Yeah. Just don’t let me hit the ice.” 

Larry grinned again and laced their fingers together. Sally loved when Larry smiled. He loved seeing the gap in his teeth, he loved the way his eyes got wrinkles at the sides from happiness.

“I won’t let you fall. I promise.” Larry brought their hands up and kissed each of Sally’s knuckles. Moments like these are what Sally thought he’d never have. It was almost overwhelming to experience them, especially with Larry. 

“Then I guess you can teach me how to skate.” Sally stared at their joined hands as Larry kisses them. 

“Let’s go then. Grab your coat.” Larry released their hands and grabbed the skates. He’d have to rent a pair, but at least they could save some money by having Sally use the old pair. And since they were broken in, it would be more comfortable for him.

Sally went up to his apartment to grab his coat while Larry grabbed his own, informed Lisa, and waited for him by the mailboxes. His hands were tucked away in the pocket of his hoodie and he felt himself thrumming with energy. Sally joined him quickly after letting his hair down to fit a beanie onto his head.

Larry wanted to take a picture of him. He was bundled up and looked so small under all his layers with his hair sticking out at the sides of the beanie. Larry grinned again and offered Sally his hand. Sally took it gratefully and they headed outside.

The walk wasn’t far from the rink, luckily. It wasn’t snowing but the sun still wasn’t shining either. Sally wasn’t a fan of the snow but he’d endure it for Larry. 

They walked together in a comfortable silence, shyly holding each other’s hand. Sally knew they’d have to tell people soon. They’d probably start with Todd and Neil first since they’d be the easiest to tell. From their they’d tell Ash and then their parents. For now, they just wanted to take one day at a time. They could tell Todd whenever since they lived in the same building.

Larry released Sally’s hand to open the door to the rink for them. He handed the old skates to Sally and went up to the counter to rent a pair. Sally unzipped his coat and followed after Larry as he led them to a bench by the rink.

“We can eat here if we want. They have pizza and burgers.” Larry plopped onto the bench and got to work on putting the skates on. Sally sat beside him and started putting his own on.

“What if I want a fancy dinner?” Sally joked as he tied the laces up.

“Then you’d need a fancy boyfriend who has a job.” Larry chuckled and stood up. For a moment he frowned and looked at Sally. “You don’t actually want a fancy dinner right?”

Sally chuckled and stood up carefully, shifting his feet at the change in balance.

“No you dummy. That would mean snails and weird stuff.” Sally took careful steps towards the opening to the rink.

“Oh. Alright. Cool.” Larry stepped onto the ice and turned to watch Sally shakily step and cling to the bar for his life. 

“I regret not bringing the camera.” Larry leaned forward and offered both his hands to Sally.

“You can’t take pictures if you’re keeping me from falling.” Sally took his hands and tensed up as he wobbled on one side. This was death. It was death on ice with only razor blades to keep you alive. As metal as that sounded, Sally was dreading this. But Larry’s warm hands squeezed his own gently and he relaxed a bit.

“I’m great at multitasking.” Larry slowly moved backwards, leading Sally forward.

“Larry. I’ve had to label your cup so you don’t drink your paint water. How is that multitasking?” Sally’s foot slipped and Larry held him up as he carefully set his foot back down.

“Because I’m super focused when I paint.” Larry looked away for a moment. “Would you ever let me paint you?”

That caught Sally off guard and he slipped again, pulling Larry onto the ice as he fell backwards onto his behind. He grunted at the initial impact and then again when Larry fell on top of him.

Sally groaned and waited for Larry to roll off of him. Larry was laughing. The jerk. This was his fault.

“You said you’d catch me!” Sally jabbed at his side and watched as Larry got back to his feet.

“I didn’t think you’d take me with you!” He was still laughing. Larry reached down and pulled Sally back to his feet. They were aware that they were getting some looks but it didn’t matter. They were in their own world.

“Ice hurts.” Sally complained, resisting the urge to let go of Larry to rub his sore behind.

“It does, but hey, you could just ice it!” Larry started to lead Sally again until the smaller slowly started to get it. Sally huffed at his joke and kept a tight hold on his hands.

“So would you?” Larry asked. Sally blanked for a moment before he remembered what Larry had asked.

“Maybe? I mean, if you did abstract? Not uh, realism.”

“I’ll make you the hottest blocks ever.” Larry released Sally’s hands much to Sally’s disdain. But he moved to skate beside Sally, his arm out behind Sally’s back just in case.

“I think I changed my mind.” Sally joked. He was getting better. He was basically shuffling his feet along the ice carefully, very aware of the ground in front of him.

“You’ve got this, Sal. I’m right here in case you fall.” Larry set his hand on the small of Sally’s back. 

“You’re a monster.” Sally kept his hands out to his sides for balance. He felt like what he imagined a T-Rex looked like if it was sliding on ice. He was slowly gaining his confidence.

“Your ankles are gonna be sore later. So let me know when you wanna stop to eat.” They made great progress. Sally had made a few laps around the rink and he was starving.

“Think I’m ready to do a triple sow cow?” Sally stumbled again and Larry’s arm wrapped around him to steady him.

“I think you’re really close but not quite ready.” Larry laughed and relaxed his hold a bit but kept his arm around him.

“I think I’m ready to eat. And then maybe I can land that jump.” Sally slid his feet along until he reached the opening of the rink. Sally all but collapsed into the bench and sighed loudly. His ankles were sore like Larry said but it was fun. He wanted to get better so he could skate with him more.

The two changed back into their shoes and decided that pizza was the clear winner because it meant they could bring the extra home for later. They slid into a booth and fell into an easy conversation. Larry spoke about art schools he was interested in and Sally brought up the idea of Todd marketing his devices and him using them to help people with their ghosts. 

They talked about traveling the world and seeing it all together.

After awhile, they boxed up the rest of the pizza and headed for the door. They wanted to get back before it was too dark out and before the snowfall got worse. Sally held the skates and Larry held the pizza box, both wishing for a free hand to hold.

“So uh,” Larry started. “If the warm making machine is working I guess you won’t need to sleep over huh?” 

Oh. Right. Sally hadn’t thought of that. School was still out though so maybe his dad would be okay with it.

“I can still ask. It’s not like you live miles away.” Sally walked a little closer, ready to feign being cold if questioned. Larry pressed his arm against Sally’s and hummed softly.

“I live in the basement like a creeper.” Larry mused. He opened the door to the apartments for them and waited until Sally stepped inside before closing it behind them. He shook the snow out of his hair and looked down at Sally as the smaller pulled his beanie off. His hair was standing up everywhere and it was the best thing he’d ever seen. Sally smoothed it down with his free hand and looked up at Larry.

“I’ll head up and ask my dad. If he’s not home then I’ll feed Gizmo and come down. Otherwise, keep your walkie close.” Sally stood on his toes and pressed the lips of his prosthetic into Larry’s cheek before he retreated to the elevator. Larry couldn’t hold back his smile if he tried.

Larry returned to the apartment, offering his mom the pizza before heading into his room. He let her know that Sally might sleep over again and she gave her okay.

He looked at the mess that was his room and sighed. He really should clean up. 

He pulled off his jacket and kicked off his shoes before he attached the walkie to his waist. He was going to try to clean.

He grabbed a hair tie and quickly pulled up his hair before getting to work.

After nearly an hour, Larry had the trash and dishes done and the laundry sorted. He had the clean laundry put up and hauled the dirty to the washer and even started a load. He wiped his brow and looked at the room.

He still needed to pick up his cds and other items up, vacuum, dust...

Larry sighed. It was a good start though.

He didn’t even want to think about cleaning the bathroom.

“Larry?” Sally’s voice crackled on the walkie receiver and Larry jumped. He’d forgotten it was there.

“Hey! So what’s the verdict?” If Sally couldn’t come then he’d probably continue cleaning. If he could though...

“Dad is leaving for the night shift and Gizmo is taking another bath. Can I shower at your place? He’s going to be awhile. I’m gonna pack a quick overnight bag too.” 

Larry pumped his fist. Oh. The bathroom. Shit.

“Yeah man. Let me pick up the bathroom a bit while you pack.”

“Cleaning? For me? Wow, Larry. Be still my beating heart.” The walkie clipped but he could still hear Sally’s soft laughter.

“Only the best for my boyfriend.” He knew that would get a response back. He moved into the bathroom and got to work. Sally hadn’t replied so he assumed he’d caused him to overheat and couldn’t respond properly.

After about half an hour he could hear his mother on the other side of the door calling for him. He looked at the bathroom, satisfied that it looked better. Not great but it looked as good as the other bathrooms in the apartment now. He moved to his door and opened it to find Lisa standing there with a suspicious smile on her face.

“Sally told me you were cleaning.” She stepped inside, Sally stood behind her. Even with his prosthetic on he could tell Sally felt a little guilty for telling her. Not that he had a reason to be.

“Wow, Larry. I haven’t seen your room look this clean in awhile.” She stopped and looked at some paint stains on the carpet. “Maybe we should have the carpet ripped up next.”

Sally stepped into the room and set his bag on the couch, his hair pulled up in a high ponytail now. He wanted to help. Larry cleaning on his own unprompted was amazing and he wanted to help him finish it. A clean space could help greatly with depression. It was hard to maintain space let alone clean entirely.

“I pulled out the vacuum for you. I’ll finish the laundry and bring it in in the morning.” Lisa moved over to Larry and smiled at him. “Don’t forget to shower before bed okay?”

Larry nodded and watched her leave. He then turned to look at Sally.

“I’ll help.” Sally gave him a thumbs up and held up the plug to the vacuum in his other hand.

“Sally-“

“It’s okay, Larry. You pick up what you can and I’ll vacuum the floor and couch. Then we can shower.” Sally tensed up, heat rising to his face. “Separately. Shower separately.”

Larry grinned at him. 

“Dang, I got excited for a second.”

Sally plugged in the vacuum and turned it on right away.

“I can’t hear you, Larry! The vacuum is too loud!” He turned away from him and pulled the hose out to start cleaning the couch. Larry just chuckled, energy renewed as he started to pick up items off the floor.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to get the room looking better. It was the cleanest it had been since Larry moved into it. Lisa had even brought them drinks for their efforts. She told them she wanted to kiss their foreheads but they were dirty and sweaty so she told them to get fresh kisses in the morning.

The boys sat down on the couch, thoroughly tired out. Sally reached out and put his hand over Larry’s, curling his fingers over Larry’s.

“It looks awesome. Good job.” 

“Yeah. Thanks, Sal.” Larry took Sally’s hand and kissed his ear. It was the only skin he could reach easily.

“You wanna shower first?” Larry offered, eyes closed. He knew he would fall asleep the second Sally went to shower.

“I thought you wanted to shower together.” Sally’s voice was nearly a whisper but it was loud enough to wake Larry up. Larry whipped his head around to look at Sally.

“You-“

“I’ll put it this way. I’m gonna go take a shower and you can either wait or... not wait.” Sally let go of his hand and stepped into the bathroom. 

“Fuck.” Larry scrambled to his feet and quickly followed Sally into the bathroom. His mind raced with possibilities and all them went straight to his dick.

“That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen you move.” Sally pulled off his shirt and set it on the counter. Larry swallowed and quickly pulled off his own shirt and tried to calm himself down by turning on the shower.

“Good motivation.” Larry replied. “Are you gonna..?”

Larry motioned to his own face and Sally stared at the shirt on the counter for a moment.

“I need to wash it.” Sally let his hair down and reached back to unclasp his prosthetic. Larry felt his stomach twist from excitement. He watched Sally place the prosthetic on the counter. Larry let down his own hair and stared at Sally.

“I really wanna touch you, Sal. But my hands are filthy.” Larry pulled back the shower door and unbuttoned his pants.

“Then get in the shower so we can get clean.” Sally rinsed his prosthetic and sprayed it with a small bottle he’d carried into the bathroom earlier before he set it on the counter. Larry assumed it was to clean it.

“I’m so on it, dude.” Larry was grinning as he pushed down his pants and kicked them to the floor. Sally blinked and looked at him.

“We just cleaned.” Sally motioned to the clothes Larry left on the floor, trying to focus on that instead of the very naked Larry in front of him.

“I’ll pick it up. I promise.” Larry slipped into the shower, his head peeking out at Sally.

Sally removed his own pants and set them on the counter before he stepped into the shower beside him. Once inside, Sally slid the shower door closed. Larry rubbed his hands together under the spray quickly before he smiled sheepishly at Sally, reaching out to cup Sally’s face.

“My hands are clean now.” Larry leaned in close.

“I didn’t see any soap touch them.” Sally smiled and tilted his head up so Larry could kiss him. Larry wasted no time and pressed their lips together. It was just a quick kiss, both knew that the water wouldn’t stay warm for very long so they actually did need to shower.

“Here,” Larry led Sally to the spray. “Rinse off and I’ll wash your hair for you.” 

“Does that mean I get to wash your hair?” Sally closed his eyes as the warm water washed down his body.

“Can you reach?” Larry snipped playfully.

“If I cut your legs off I can.” Sally knew he was short. He was an entire head shorter than Larry but he could still win in a fight. He wasn’t going to let his own boyfriend sass him like that. He reached out and pinched Larry’s arm. Larry laughed and rubbed his arm.

“Fair enough.” Larry opened the bottle of shampoo and gently lathered it into Sally’s scalp. A small thrill ran through him at the thought of Sally smelling like his soaps. It was a shame that winter break was already nearly over because it meant he would see Sally a little less and he doubted that he’d be able to sleep over much. One the plus side, they were almost done with school entirely. Ready to start the next chapter of their lives outside of high school. 

Which also brought the thought of college and the possibility of separate schools or worse; separate states.

Once the suds were rinsed out, Larry conditioned Sally’s hair and turned to move under the spray so it could set. He didn’t want to think about being without Sally. He was his best friend and now his boyfriend. He didn’t know if they’d be good at long distance.

Sally must have picked up on Larry’s sudden mood change because he placed a hand on Larry’s cheek, trying to gain his attention.

“Larry?” 

Larry looked down at Sally and leaned onto the hand on his cheek, raising his own hand to rest over his.

“Sorry. My mind ran off for a sec.” He apologized and closed his eyes as Sally started to gently rub the shampoo into his scalp. One day he would have a house with a large tub. He’d be able to lay in it with Sally comfortably, because this was a feeling he wanted every day.

“Tell it to come back.” Sally copied Larry and worked the conditioner into his hair. They swapped places again and Larry grabbed the soap. This was what he really wanted to do.

“Can I wash you?” He shifted the bar in his hands nervously. His body was already reacting very positively to having Sally naked in his space. And the thought of his hands all over his body was so close to being reality.

When Sally nodded, Larry wasted no time lathering up his hands. He set the bar down and started with Sally’s arms. He ran his hands up his forearms up to his shoulders. From there, he moved down his spine, hesitating before running his hands down the slope of his behind. He was enjoying this way too much. Next he did his thighs all the way down to his legs. When he stood back up he turned Sally around so his back was to his chest. He got more soap and started working his hands over his chest.

Sally shivered under his touch and it only fueled him further. He took a breath and slid his hands over Sally’s hips, pulling him closer by them. He knew he was doing more than just washing him, but by the way Sally’s body was reacting he could tell Sally wasn’t objecting. 

“Sally? Can I?..” Larry’s hand stopped right at the dip of his stomach. So close.

“Please.” It was all Larry needed to hear before he was smoothing his hand over him. He wrapped his hand around Sally’s dick and let his free hand travel over his chest. Sally groaned softly, leaning back against Larry as he pushed his hips into the touch.

Behind him, Larry was pressed against his back. He could feel how hard he was. 

Larry kissed at Sally’s neck, reacquainting himself with the marks he’d left before. His hand worked at a lazy pace that was frustrating Sally to no end. He was teasing him. Or so he thought anyways. 

Sally gasped when he felt Larry sliding his own dick against his back. His body only heated up knowing that Larry was grinding against him now. He wanted more.

“Larry.” He moaned and put his hand over Larry’s own. He wanted Larry to feel as good as he did. He didn’t want to be selfish. Larry’s hand stopped and he looked down at Sally.

“You okay?” He asked. Sally turned around and looked up at Larry.

“I want to try-we should rinse off. The water is going to get cold soon and it’ll kill it.” Sally stood under the spray and rinsed off completely, the fire in his stomach fueling him to hurry. Larry nodded and washed himself down quickly. He rinsed himself off as Sally climbed out of the shower and started to dry himself off. He swore that his self control was doing great, but it was really because the shower offered no room for what he wanted to do.

He plugged in the hair dryer and set to work on drying his hair. As much as he wanted to dive into the bed, he knew wet hair was a bad idea for both of them.

In a few short moments, the shower was off and Larry appeared behind him. His still damp hands settling on Sally’s waist as he pulled the smaller closer.

“We’re getting dry, Larry.” Sally pointed the hair dryer at one of Larry’s hands. Larry hummed and pressed into his neck.

“Then dry away.” Larry made no effort to move. With how much Larry seemed to want to be in his space, Sally wondered if he should charge rent.

“Sit on the toilet and I’ll dry your hair since you’re a lazy ass.” Sally shifted his shoulders to get Larry to rise from his spot. Larry set the towel on the lid of the seat before he sat down. Sally grabbed the brush and moved over to him, thankful for the longer cord.

Larry, Sally learned, was grabby. It didn’t bother him but it was still new to suddenly have hands on him at all times now. Said hands had latched onto his hips again, possibly a favorite spot for Larry to leave them. He found himself being gently pulled down into Larry’s lap and he sighed softly at the other.

“You have no control.” Sally smiled and started to work at Larry’s hair. Larry just closed his eyes and hummed. He was already getting spoiled. He deserved it though. 

Once he felt like Larry’s hair was done, Sally handed the dryer to him. It was his turn to get spoiled. He stayed settled in his lap as Larry gently worked the brush through his hair, taking extra work to keep from hurting him. Sally wondered if it was gross to feel happy to see his hair mixed with Larry’s on the brush. It gave him a sense that he fit so easily into Larry’s space. Into his life.

“You said something earlier.” Larry spoke up as he shut off the dryer and brushed Sally’s hair once more. “Before we got out.”

He had said something, but he never said all of what he intended to say. Sally felt it was better to show what he wanted to do rather than say. Although, it would probably flustered Larry either way.

Sally stood up and held onto the towel wrapped around his waist as he silently walked back into the bedroom. Larry watched him with interest, wondering if he was supposed to follow.

Sally sat on the edge of the bed and looked into the bathroom at Larry.

“Are you gonna stay in there all day?” He asked.

“It’s night now.” Larry rose to his feet and set the brush into the drawer before shutting the light off in the bathroom. He moved into the bedroom and stood before Sally.

“Tell me what to do.” Larry let Sally maneuver him so he sat on the bed. 

“Just... sit there.” Sally slid off the bed and sank to his knees on the floor, grateful for the carpet beneath him. Larry seemed to understand immediately and cursed.

Sally was nervous. Beyond so. Obviously, he’d never done this before but he was fully willing to try.

He pushed his way between Larry’s legs and took a deep breath to try and muster up some courage. It helped when Larry ran his fingers through his hair.

Sally took the gesture as an okay to go forward. So he wrapped his hand around Larry’s dick and took the head into his mouth. Larry let out another curse and leaned forward a bit. That was a good sign.

So Sally slowly worked more into his mouth. Larry was already making noises that encouraged him more. He took as much into his mouth as he felt comfortable with and slowly started to bob his head. Above him, Larry was nearly shaking, his fist clenching a little tighter in Sally’s hair.

“Fuck...” Larry groaned. His eyes were nearly closed but focused on Sally. This is it. This is how Larry would die. Best death ever.

Larry knew he wouldn’t last long like this. He was sure he was about to come embarrassingly fast. 

Sally moaned softly and Larry felt it vibrate against him. It was all it took to have him coming with a gasp. 

Embarrassingly fast.

Sally pulled back as he gagged a bit and oh, that wasn’t sexy. But Larry was panting softly and running his fingers through his hair again.

“Fuck, dude.” Larry moved quickly, handing Sally his drink from earlier. He waited for Sally to finish his drink before he gently cleaned his face with a tissue.

“That was fucking awesome, Sal.” Larry grinned and set the cup aside before he pulled Sally up to the bed with him.

Sally took it as a victory that Larry had finished so quickly. It did nothing to ebb his own desire though.

Larry pushed Sally onto his back and climbed over him before kissing him. Sally wondered if Larry thought it was gross considering he was tasting himself on Sally. If he did think it was gross, he didn’t show it at all. 

Larry pulled back a bit and smiled at him. It warmed him that Sally didn’t grab his prosthetic after the shower. He was letting himself be vulnerable to Larry. 

Slowly, Larry started to kiss his way down Sally’s chest. He earned a startled moan when he gave a soft nip at one of Sally’s nipples. It was followed by a quick smack to his arm and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Don’t like it?” Larry looked up at him.

“It’s... new.” Sally reached up and pushed Larry’s hair out of his face. Larry’s hair was much longer than his own and it practically created a tent around Sally’s body. It tickled at his skin and he loved it.

“New good or new bad?”

“New, I don’t know.” Sally reached up and pinched on of Larry’s own nipples in retaliation. Larry laughed and pushed Sally’s arm away.

“Alright, we’ll explore it later then.” Larry leaned back down and continued to kiss down his stomach. As he got further and further down, Sally’s pants became quicker. He’d been waiting so long to be touched again that he was sure he’d be coming faster than Larry had.

Larry spread his fingers over the trail of blue hair that traveled down and looked up at Sally again, silently asking permission. Sally felt like he didn’t need to ask for anything anymore, but that fact that he did showed how much he cared.

Sally ran his fingers through Larry’s hair again and nodded. In a flash, Larry’s hand was around his dick and his mouth was already around him. Oh. Oh fuck.

Sally fought back the need to lift his hips up. The last thing he wanted was to choke Larry. It was hard to keep himself from chasing the feeling. He focused on his breathing instead and the feeling of Larry’s hair between his fingers. 

Neither of them were experienced in this, there was the feeling of teeth just barely touching but not enough to hurt. They didn’t know how to breathe properly or how to maneuver their hands or even what to do with them.

But it was perfect.

It was perfect because it was them. It was just the two of them learning each other and experiencing each other. If Sally had the mentality to think about it, he’d probably get choked up over it. His mind couldn’t focus on anything else but Larry.

Sally was whispering a chant of Larry’s name. He was trying to prop himself up enough to watch Larry. 

Larry must have learned from Sally, because he was soon humming around him. It left Sally a wreck. He’d given up on trying to sit up because his body was shaking too much to even try.

He thought he was doing a good job of holding on but then Larry looked up at him and suddenly he was coming.

He was gasping and clutching at Larry’s hair as he tried to keep himself from screaming. He swore he must have blacked out because the next thing he remembered was Larry coughing and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Sally shifted, his body still shaky as he sat up and blindly felt around for the box of tissues on the nightstand. Once he made contact with the box he offered it to Larry.

“Jesus, Larry.” Sally pushed his hair out of his face and watched as his boyfriend cleaned up. Larry tossed the tissue into the emptied basket nearby and collapsed onto the bed beside Sally.

“You make cute noises, Sal.” Larry grinned and pulled Sally down to lie against his chest. Sally’s face burned and he pulled the covers over himself to hide.

Larry chuckled and plucked the covers off enough to see Sally’s face peeking out.

“Why’re you hiding?”

“What if your mom barges in?”

“Oh. She won’t.” Larry pulled Sally in closer and kissed his forehead. “I told her half the truth.”

That earned him a confused look from Sally.

“Okay, So. I didn’t tell her we’re dating. I told her that you’re just now getting comfortable showing me yourself.” Larry’s voice grew soft and he pulled one of Sally’s hands up to play with. “So I told her not to come in because you might not be wearing it.”

Sally opened his mouth and then closed it. That was, well, incredibly thoughtful.

“And before you start thinking she doesn’t wanna see, that’s not it. She’s like me. When you’re ready to show her she’ll just love you more, dude.” Larry kissed his knuckles. 

Sally swore this was what love felt like. He also felt tears building up and threatening to fall. He rubbed at them and tried to will them away. Larry just smiled and eased Sally’s hands away before he gently brushed away his tears.

“You stupid perfect asshole.” Sally choked out. He wasn’t sobbing but he was damn near close.

“Oh sure, like I believe you mean that.” Larry gave him a sly smile and pulled the blanket over them both so their heads were under the covers.

“You’re a stupid perfect asshole and I’m glad.” Sally wrapped his arms around Larry and squeezed him tight until Larry was laughing again.

“I wanna kiss your stupid perfect asshole face.” Sally tugged at his arm. “Get your stupid tree body down here.”

“I dunno, babe. Your words injure me. Maybe I’ll keep my asshole face up high so you can’t reach.” Larry wiggles himself away from Sally, laughing as the smaller just climbed onto him. They wrestled back and forth for a moment until Sally decided to play dirty and tug at his hair. Not too hard but enough to make Larry stop crawling away. Sally crawled once more over Larry, settling himself on his hips to keep him still. With victory all his, Sally leaned down to claim his prize. He felt Larry smile against him as they kissed.

“You’re playing dirty.” Larry closed his eyes and settled his hands on Sally’s thighs.

“I learned from you.” Sally retorted with a gentle nip to Larry’s bottom lip. Larry hummed and licked at Sally’s lips in response. 

“You look good like this.” Larry looked up at Sally and gave his thighs a gentle squeeze.

“Frustrated that you keep moving away?” Sally sat up and stared down at him.

“On top of me. Naked.” To emphasize his point, Larry ground his hips up against Sally. He wanted to watch Sally come at this angle. 

“Oh.” Sally shifted, not sure what to say to that. He wasn’t used to compliments and Larry was really good at dishing them out.

“Think you could come for me again?” Larry pulled Sally up a bit so their dicks were touching.

“You’re-Where did you learn to talk like that?” Sally’s throat was suddenly very dry. Larry just grinned.

“Is that a yes?” Larry ground his hips up again and Sally inhaled at the feeling. As far as Sally was concerned that was a hell yes. 

“Come on, Sal. You gotta tell me.” Larry’s long fingers wrapped around them both and he pressed his thumb into the slit of Sally’s dick.

“Fuck, Larry.” Sally nearly doubled over. 

Larry was really good at that. 

“Yes? I wanna hear it, baby.” Larry practically purred out his words. 

“Fuck Yes. Don’t tease me you ass.” Sally rolled his own hips to encourage him. 

“That’s a good idea for another day. We’ll have to wait for a day when we have the whole floor to ourselves. I want to hear all the noises you’d make.” Larry started a painfully slow stroking pace. If Sally wasn’t already dead then this is where he would die. He didn’t know Larry could talk like that. It burned so pleasantly in his stomach to hear him.

“I bet you’ll be louder.” Sally swallowed as he started to buck his hips into Larry’s hand.

“You’ll have to find out.”

Fuck him for being so hot. Sally didn’t want to admit that Larry was making him squirm from the way he was talking. It would go right to his head. Or maybe it already was. Fuck.

“Larry.” Sally bit back a moan. 

“Yeah, baby?”

“Fuck.”

Larry snickered. He loved this. He didn’t have a lot of confidence but Sally seemed to be enjoying it.

Sally had created a monster. Or maybe had the potential to be a monster beforehand. But now he was Sally’s monster. Sally had become the doctor and he was actually very proud of his creation.

“Talk to me, baby. Tell me how you feel.” Larry whispered to him. His hand sped up a bit, twisting just right with every up stroke.

Yep. He was a monster.

“Good.” Sally panted. His eyes were half lidded and focused on Larry. He occasionally glanced down to Larry’s hand, marveling at how good his hand looked on his dick. It should live there. 

“Your hand should live on my dick.” Sally cursed at himself before he even finished his sentence. He wasn’t good at dirty talk and that was clear. Especially when Larry laughed at him.

“Yeah? You want my hand on your dick all the time? You want me to make you feel good?” How was Larry so good at turning his unsexy words into incredibly sexy words? A man of many talents. Sally’s man of many talents. Sally didn’t consider himself to be a possessive person, but Larry was someone he didn’t want to share.

“Larry.” Sally put his hand over his mouth, trying to keep quiet again. It was hard when Larry was speeding his hand up again. They’d need another shower at this rate.

“I’ve got you, baby. Are you close? Because you feel so good against me. I won’t last long.”

And fuck, Sally almost came right then and there.

Sally panted and bit at his fingers, trying desperately to keep from moaning loudly. His whimpers still escaped him clearly though.

“Hey hey, don’t hurt yourself.” Larry used his free hand to pull Sally’s hand away from his mouth. “If you’re gonna bite something it should be me.”

Just like that, Sally was coming again. He turned his face into Larry’s hand that held his own and moaned his name, his back arching as he rode out his orgasm.

Larry’s hand had slowed down until it finally stilled. Sally had shakily placed a hand on Larry’s stomach, steadying himself so he wouldn’t collapse onto him.

He blinked slowly, his senses finally coming back to him. He looked down and realized that Larry hadn’t come yet. He swallowed again and wrapped his hand around Larry’s dick. Larry licked his lips and removed his own hand.

“You’re amazing, Sal.” Larry was soon panting below him. He had nearly come from watching Sally ride out his own orgasm. He was surprised that he’d been able to hold off for as long as he had, especially with his boyfriend’s cute noises.

“Come on, Larry.” Sally stroked him faster. He wanted to learn more. He wanted to know what else he could do to make Larry feel good.

“Sally.” Larry groaned. “I’m close, baby.”

“Then come for me.” Sally leaned down and whispered into his ear.

“Oh fuck.” Larry squeezed his hands into Sally’s thighs, his hips lifting up into Sally’s hand as he came.

Sally’s stomach churned pleasantly at the sight. He loved knowing that he could do this to him. 

Sally waited for Larry to recover. As hot as that had been, he wasn’t about to lay down and sleep with come on their stomachs. 

He leaned down and kissed Larry before he crawled off of the bed. Larry grinned blissfully and slowly climbed out of bed to follow Sally into the bathroom. He leaned against the counter and let Sally clean them both this time. 

“You’d better brush your teeth.” Sally quipped at him. He took the wet rag and took great care as he cleaned his boyfriend. He never got tired of that word. Larry was his boyfriend!

“Yes dear.” Larry sassed him. He knew the pet names were leaving Sally flustered.

Sally smacked him with the rag.

“Ow! Hey!”

“Shh. Dull roar.” Sally reminded him as he dropped the dirty rag into the laundry basket.

“Brat.” Larry grabbed his tooth brush and did as he was told. Sally moved to his backpack and dug through it for his own brush.

“We should get you one to keep here.” Larry stuck his brush into his mouth to keep himself from blabbing about what else Sally should keep there. It was a surprisingly intimate thought. He’d love to wake up next to Sally and to see his belongings fit beside his own.

“Yeah? Alright.” Sally moved back into the bathroom and wet his brush.

After they finished up in the bathroom, they retreated back to the bed. Sally had grabbed his prosthetic to leave on the nightstand.

“Should we get dressed?” Sally set his prosthetic down and looked over at Larry, who was already climbing back into the bed, naked. 

“Uh.” Larry stopped as he had one knee on the bed. “No?”

Sally chuckled.

“Alright.” He slinked into the bed beside Larry. 

“No point right? We’re already naked anyways and mom won’t come in.” Larry pulled him close and closed his eyes. 

Sally just hummed in response, his own eyes closing. They’d done a lot in one day and it hit them hard. He wondered how they fell into place with each other so easily. Nothing ever came easily in his life and yet, Larry was here. His fingers tightened slightly, keeping Larry as close as he could. Larry was worth anything and everything. And maybe that’s what love was.

In a matter of seconds, the two were already falling asleep while wrapped up in each other. With Larry beside him, Sally was able to sleep without nightmares.


	3. Supresa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thought of the future is scary and college was an equally scary thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t proof read so if I have mistakes please be mindful. I write it on my phone and it likes to change words A LOT.
> 
> Anyways, I don’t seem to know how to stay away from these boys. If this becomes a series I don’t know what I would have happen. So, enjoy?

It was raining again. After months of snow, it was finally warm enough that it was raining again. There was only two months left of their senior year and Larry was tense over it. 

As soon as they returned from school he darted to the mail box and checked it. Each day without any letters just piled onto his shoulders.

Sally wasn’t as worried. He knew what he wanted to do and no college would teach it. And he knew that, even if Larry didn’t get accepted to some prestigious art school, he would still be amazing.

Sally seated himself on the counter as Larry flipped through the mail. Sally didn’t know how many colleges he’d even applied to. 

He watched as Larry sorted the mail, setting his mother’s aside and in the small pile he pulled a single letter out addressed to him. Larry just stood at the front of it. It was his first letter.

“It’s not from my first choice or even second.” Larry handed it to Sally. “Can you?..”

Sally took the letter. He knew Larry was too anxious to open it himself. So Sally carefully slid his finger under the fold and tore the top open.

Slowly, Sally unfolded the paper and scanned it over.

“We found your work to be very creative and inspiring.” Sally started to read where he thought it would be important. He wanted to get right to it instead of put it off. Like a bandaid, he told himself.

“However...” Sally stopped and lowered the letter. “I’m sorry, Larry.”

“Fuck.” Larry sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, it’s only the first letter right?”

“Yeah. When you get rich and famous they’ll regret it anyways.” Sally put the letter down on the counter and reached out for him. Larry moved into his space and pressed his face into Sally’s neck. He sighed.

Sally wished he could take the weight off of his shoulders. He never wanted Larry to feel like he wasn’t good enough for some snobby art school.

“Wanna go burn it?” Sally gently touched at the hair at Larry’s nape. He heard Larry huff out a small laugh.

“Yeah. Fuck them.”

“We can burn it and make out in the tree house.” That gained the positive reaction Sally was hoping for. Larry pulled back and grinned at him.

“I’ll carry you.”

“You are not carrying me. Besides, it’s raining out and I don’t want to die because you want to carry me around.” Sally felt Larry’s hands settle on his knees.

“One day. When we have our own place. I’ll carry you around.” Larry had that shy look again. It was a promise that Sally looked forward to.

“When we have our own place.” Sally agreed. Larry smiled again and took a step back so Sally could slide off the counter. 

They’d only told Todd and Neil so far about their relationship so far. Todd had tried to give them what he decided was “the talk they really needed”. Which, was informative but also overwhelming. 

They didn’t even have to tell Ash since she caught them kissing in the tree house before. She told them she wasn’t an idiot and had known for awhile. Which, was strange considering that they’d only been dating for a few months.

They were working up to telling Lisa next. Especially since they had the possibility of moving out soon so sneaking around wouldn’t have to be an issue anymore.

Larry handed Sally his raincoat and slipped on his own. Luckily for them, the treehouse never seemed to leak so being in there during the rain was always comforting. The only time they never went in was if it was a storm because Lisa insisted that lightning was a very real threat to that old tree.

To Sally, it meant a lot that Larry wanted him in his hideaway. The place he told Sally he goes to be alone, and he wanted Sally there beside him. If he thought about it for too long, he got emotional.

They climbed up the tree and Sally moved to one side of the room to grab the air mattress. It was a good idea because it was easy to move up there and store and easy to replace if it tore. Which, it hadn’t yet, but Sally was sure one day it would just burst under them.

He unrolled it and grabbed the mechanical pump as Larry finally joined him. Larry had grabbed a bucket and a lighter, ready to dispose of the letter.

After a few minutes, the mattress was fully inflated and sealed. Sally draped the sheet over it and sat down first. Larry sat across from him and set the bucket in between them.

“Ready to burn this?” Larry smiled. 

It was a false front, Sally knew that too well. 

“Hell yeah. Do it.” Sally grabbed the sides of the bucket. Larry held the letter above the bucket and started the lighter, moving it up until it slowly started to catch the paper aflame.

“Fuck you.” Larry said to the letter.

Once the flames grew high enough, he set it in the bucket and they sat in silence as it burned to ash. As soon as it was fully out, Sally set the bucket aside and shifted closer to Larry. 

Larry wasn’t smiling anymore.

Sally gently placed his hands on Larry’s face, tilting his head up until they were staring at each other.

“It’s okay to be upset, Larry. You don’t have to pretend to be okay. Not with me.” Sally’s thumb stroked against his cheek.

Larry made a small noise and pulled Sally into his lap. Sally wrapped his legs around Larry’s waist and held him close as Larry pressed his face into his neck. He rubbed lazy circles into Larry’s back. Larry wasn’t crying, but Sally knew he was close to it.

“There’s more schools. And a lot of artists don’t get their feet off the ground right away. You’ll get there, Larry. And I’ll be with you every step of the way.” Sally moved his other hand to stroke his hair. 

“You proposing?” Larry let out a soft huff of a laugh, not even peeking out from his new home in Sally’s neck.

“Not like this. I’ll come up with a big way to do it. Like getting Sanity Falls to ask you for me.” That got Larry to come out of his home.

“That would be fucking awesome!” He gave Sally a genuine smile.

“It would be. And I’d do it if I could. Y’know, If and when we ever feel ready for that. We can’t get married if our parents don’t even know.” Sally let go of Larry and pulled up his prosthetic.

“It would be ballsy to send them wedding invites without telling them we’re even dating.”

“They’d be upset that we didn’t tell them first.” Especially Lisa, Sally thought. He loved his father but Lisa had been such a huge part of his life in the last few years and now he couldn’t imagine life without her.

“We should work on telling your mom. We can wait until after graduation if you want, but the sooner the better.” Sally knew that Lisa would take it well. She might be a little awkward at first at most, but she loved them both dearly and he was confident that she would still love them just as much after.

“Yeah. I know. It’s just weird now that they’re dating too. Like, if they got married-“

“That doesn’t matter. We were dating first.” Sally gave a gentle pinch to Larry’s side and Larry laughed before he caught his wrist.

“I just hope it doesn’t make them break up you know?” Larry placed a kiss on Sally’s palm.

“Why would it?”

“I dunno.” Larry shifted on the mattress and laid back, pulling Sally down onto him. He wrapped his arms around the smaller and pulled Sally’s prosthetic away. Larry was the only one he would ever let do it, and it was always because Larry wanted to kiss him.

“We shouldn’t sleep here.” Sally reached out to cup Larry’s face again.

“No, but we can definitely do that making out you promised.” And just like that, Larry was kissing him. Sally closed his eyes as he felt himself melt into Larry’s touch. He was sure that Larry wanted to do more than kiss but Sally didn’t want to risk that. Not only could someone find them, but they had no way to clean up. Plus, it was cold out and being naked in the cold was good for no one.

Larry pulled back and smiled at Sally, one of his hands resting on Sally’s cheek. He looked at him as if Sally was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen and it always made Sally’s heart swell.

“I don’t know how I got you, Sal. But I’m gonna do everything I can to make you happy.” It nearly knocked the wind out of Sally’s lungs.

“Are you proposing?” 

Larry laughed again. It was a real laugh.

“Maybe one day.” Larry leaned in again and kissed him again. 

They laid like that for what felt like hours, just kissing and speaking softly to each other. Their fingers were laced together and their legs intertwined.

This was love. Sally was sure of it.

The next day was a Sunday, so there was no post and somehow it left Larry feeling even more anxious. Sally knew there wasn’t much he could do to keep Larry’s mind away from it. But he could at least try and distract him from his thoughts.

“Hey, Larry?” Sally knocked on his bedroom door. He’d gone out today by himself and was finally back with a few bags in his hands. He didn’t have much money to his name but the tenants had offered him errands in exchange for money. Usually just walking their pets or even babysitting. It had made it possible for him to buy Larry a professional easel for Christmas.

“Larry? If you don’t answer I’m just gonna come in!” Sally waited a moment before opening the door. He juggled the bags to twist the knob and looked around the room. It was a little messy but he and Larry had definitely been staying on top of it.

“Larry?” Sally set the bags on the bed and went to the bathroom. He knocked before opening it to find it empty. 

Was Larry in the tree house? 

Sally decided on going back to his own apartment to grab his phone. He was with Larry so often that he usually just left it on the charger all day. Which, probably wasn’t good for his battery.

So Sally set the bags in the closet to hide them for now and made his way back upstairs. He unlocked the door and went straight to his room for his phone. There was a single text from Larry that read; “be home late @}-,-“ Sally smiled at the typed out rose he always left at the end of his texts to him. 

He didn’t know where was or what Larry was up to, but he was safe and that’s all that mattered. Still, it left Sally wondering what he was going to do with an unknown amount of time to himself. 

Sally slipped his fully charged phone into his pocket and picked up Gizmo as he left his room. Gizmo gave him a tired but happy meow as he was lifted. 

It made him think about how much he revolved around Larry. Was it too much? Was he too dependent?

Sally sat on the couch and leaned back as Gizmo settled in his lap, prime and ready for petting.

Sal sat there with the tv on as he and Gizmo just spent time together. He knew he could be doing something more productive but at the moment he thought this was enough for now.

After a few short episode of Ghost Hunters, Sally’s dad came through the door.

“Oh! Hey, Sal!” His dad was in a good mood. He was happier lately, lighter. He was sure it was because of Lisa.

“Hey, dad.” Sally sat up, gently shifting Gizmo as he did.

“No Larry tonight?” Henry raised a brow and looked around as if Larry was in the apartment.

“Maybe later.” Sally shrugged.

“Well, I’m gonna shower and get changed.” His dad kicked off his shoes and left them by the door.

“Big date tonight?” 

His dad smiled at him.

“I never asked you if you were okay with it. Lisa and I.” Henry took a step closer and reached out to scratch behind Gizmo’s ear.

“You’re a grown man, dad. I can’t control you. But yeah, I’m happy for you. You two are happier now. I...” Sally paused. “I haven’t seen you this happy in years.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Henry untied his tie and slipped it off his collar. “I know we’ve only been dating for a short time but, I’m already thinking of how to ask her to marry me.”

Whoa. That was a big step. What would that mean for them? Would Lisa move up here? Would they move downstairs? Wouldn’t that make him and Larry step brothers?

Before Sally could even stop himself, he was speaking.

“Larry and I are dating.” Fuck.

Henry stiffened up at the sudden confession.

“Fuck.” Sally spoke again. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything yet. I don’t know why I did.” 

Sally slid Gizmo onto the couch and stood up. He wanted to run.

Henry reached out before Sally could retreat. He placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and gave him a small smile.

“Sal. You’re at his apartment all the time. You two are inseparable. We already know. But, I’m glad you told me. I know it’s probably not easy.” He gave Sally a soft squeeze and pulled him Into a hug.

Sally blinked, pausing for a moment before wrapping his arms around his father. Something in him just broke and he was suddenly crying.

“It’s okay, bud.” His dad hugged him a little tighter and rubbed his back.

Sally hadn’t been planning on telling his father anytime soon but life never did work out how you excepted.

After some time, they finally broke apart and Henry gave his son another comforting smile.

“I love you, Sal. And Larry is a good kid. You two are good for each other.” Henry gave Sally’s shoulder another squeeze and it seemed to lift Sally. 

“I love you, too. I know you won’t hurt Lisa. Because if you did we’d both have to beat you up.” Sally reached under his prosthetic to wipe the tears off of his cheeks. His father laughed again.

“I know you would.” Henry leaned down and pressed a kiss to the forehead of Sally’s prosthetic.

“I’ll be out late okay? But I really have to go shower.” Henry chuckled and quickly moved out of the room and just moments later the shower was running. Sally suddenly felt exhausted.

He pulled out his phone and shot a text to his boyfriend before collapsing onto the couch again. If his dad was going to be out then he considered that permission to sleep at Larry’s.

Within minutes, he got a reply.

“Omw home. See you soon @}-,-“

Sally held his phone to his chest and closed his eyes.

He shut off the television and got up to feed Gizmo for the night. His dad was already coming back out, looking well dressed.

“Gotta go, bud!” 

Sally shot up after looking at his dad.

“Shoes!” He shouted.

Henry stopped in his tracks and looked down at his socks.

“Oh!” Henry retreated to his bedroom again, returning with nice shoes.

“Thanks, Sal! Love you!” And just like that, Henry was out the door.

Sally waited a minute before he set the tv up for Gizmo and left the apartment. This was a good opportunity for him.

He took the elevator down to the basement and let himself back into Larry’s room. He didn’t know how soon Larry would be back so he tied his hair back and started took one of the bags into the kitchen. He got to work immediately.

He’d been slowly getting used to working in the kitchen and learning how to cook. Tonight was an easy recipe that he doubted he could mess up. He followed each task and did his best. 

When the door opened he jumped. Larry stood at the door and stared at him. He was filthy. Sally didn’t know what he’d been doing but he needed to get cleaned up.

“Sal?” Larry grinned and toed off his shoes before closing the door. “You look so cute over there. All you need is an apron.”

“Talk like that and you won’t get any.” Sally stirred the sauce.

“I don’t know what you did today, but you need a shower. Like, now.” Sally pointed the wooden spoon at him, causing him to drop sauce on the floor.

“Aw, you’re not happy to see me?” Larry strode into the kitchen until he was standing behind Sally.

“Thrilled. But you stink too.”

“So cruel. And when we have the whole apartment to ourselves tonight too.” Larry leaned into his neck, his voice getting low. He knew what he was doing. Sally hated how much Larry’s voice could effect him.

“Shower and we’ll eat. Okay? Because I won’t be going near you like that.” Sally let the pot simmer. Larry kissed his neck before reluctantly letting go.

“Alright. That’s fair.” Larry chuckled and headed down to his room to shower.

Sally hoped that telling him about what he discussed with his dad wouldn’t spoil the evening. 

Once Larry was finally clean and his hair was dry, he went back up the stairs. Sally was honestly surprised that he’d even put a shirt on.

“So what’d you make tonight and should I be near the bathroom?” Larry moved into the kitchen to see if he could help.

“It’s just pasta.” Sally served their food onto plates as Larry got their drinks. It wasn’t just pasta. But it was also basically pasta. It was pasta that Sally worked hard on.

“It smells good.” Larry set their cups on the small table. He was doing so to appease Sally because eating in the room meant piling dishes and eating here meant they’d clean up.

Sally sat down and removed his prosthetic, setting it on the table just within reach. Once Larry was seated, he decided it was time to talk. Unfortunately, Larry beat him to it.

“So I Uh, was out today on a job. Not a job job but they put me to work and paid me. They told me if college didn’t happen then they’d hire me.” Sally’s heart sank. Larry was already doubting himself. But, he was also still trying to do something. 

“Maybe you could do it for now? And once you get to college you won’t need to.” Sally shifted his fork along the noodles.

“Yeah. Maybe. So um, what did you do while I was gone?” Larry was quick to change the subject.

“I... talked to my dad.” Sally set his fork down. “I told him we were dating.”

Larry nearly dropped his glass. 

“O-oh? And uh, how did he take it?”

“Good. Better than I hoped. I mean, I wasn’t expecting him to react badly but he said that they already knew.”

Larry’s eyebrows scrunched together and in a different setting Sally would have thought it was cute.

“So, our parents both know? That’s uh. Good I guess? I mean, we don’t have to hide it now.” 

“Yeah.” Sally took a bite of the food, eating to keep himself from speaking again. Larry noticed and stood up. He moved his chair until it was beside Sally’s and pulled him close.

“You okay?” Larry asked as he rubbed his back. And, yeah, he was. Sally leaned into the touch and smiled into Larry’s shoulder.

“Yeah. It just took a lot out of me and a lot off of me. Made me tired.”

“I wish I could have been there. I wanna support you. Don’t do things alone, Sal. I’m here.”

Sally chuckled.

“I blurted it out. He said he was already thinking of ways to propose and it just slipped.” Sally pulled back and looked at him.

“Oh shit. We could help him. That’s cool though. If they moved in together we could have a whole apartment!” Larry was casually optimistic and it made Sally laugh.

“We want to get out of Addison apartments remember? Besides, wherever you go to college I’ll try to follow.” That was another thing they hadn’t discussed yet. 

“Yeah. We’ll figure it all out.” Larry pulled his plate close and started eating. They fell into a comfortable silence, sitting beside each other as they ate. Larry had commented on how good it was and left Sally flustered because he didn’t know how to respond.

Once they were finished, the cleaned up and packed the leftovers away into the fridge. The night was still young and the two were always eager to be alone. Larry grabbed Sally’s prosthetic and followed after him.

They descended the stairs and closed the door behind them.

“Oh!” Sally darted to the closet. He remembered the bags he left earlier.

“I got some stuff today.” He knelt down to the floor and started going through them.

“Oh yeah?” Larry leaned over him, interested in what Sally found.

“I got you some new paints and this brush they told me went with them.” Sally handed the bag to Larry. “Since you wanted to paint me I thought, fresh paint or something.”

Larry sat on the bed and looked through the bag. 

“Sally, You didn’t have to-“

“I wanted to. That’s uh, not all I picked up.” Sally stood up and sat beside Larry before handing him the smaller bag. Larry carefully placed the paints aside on the bed before opening up the other bag. His eyes widened and he looked at Sally immediately.

“You wanna...” Larry seemed to lose his words.

“If you’re up for it. We are alone tonight so.” Sally took out a small bottle from the bag. He hadn’t known what to get them and he was already embarrassed to be out buying that. So he’d grabbed a few styles that he could afford and two small boxes and cashed out.

The current bottle in his hand was labeled “warming sensation”.

“We’ll go slow.” Larry pulled out a box of condoms and looked it over. Todd had insisted that they be safe even if they hadn’t been with anyone before.

“Okay. I trust you, Larry.”

“When has that ever worked out for you?” Larry smiled and leaned down to kiss Sally.

“Every single time.” Sally responded.

They kissed for a moment more before Larry stood up. He tried to remember what Todd told them and grabbed the pillows. He set them on the middle of the bed and looked to Sally.

“So um- do you or-“

“I’ll go first.” Sally pulled off his shirt and set it by the bed. Larry swallowed and nodded before he started to hastily undress himself. He got caught in his own pants and fell onto the floor with a thud.

“Sally, I think I need life alert.” He sat up with a groan.

“I’ll keep that in mind for your birthday.” Sally slid out of his pants with more grace than Larry and set them with his shirt. He settled back onto the bed and propped his hips up with the pillows. They’d need new pillowcases for sure.

Larry climbed back onto the bed. He stared down at Sally and smiled.

“This is how I should paint you.”

“I only do tasteful nudes, Larry. You’d have to titanic me.”

“You want me to draw you like one of my French girls?” Larry moved between Sally’s legs and leaned down to kiss him again.

“Tastefully.” Sally replied before his hands slid over Larry’s chest. He was nervous.

Larry sat back and opened the bottle. He peeled off the seal and flicked it towards the trashcan. Sally could tell that he was nervous too. They’d stuck with hand and blowjobs so this was a whole new level for them both. But, Sally knew that if he didn’t like it, Larry would stop if he said so.

Larry kept fidgeting with the bottle in his hands. It was comforting to know that Larry was as nervous as he was. Maybe more so. Which is why he wanted to go first. It let Larry have some control and gave him something to do with his hands which helped him focus.

“Larry, just go nice and slow. Spread it and just go one at a time. I’ll let you know if it hurts or anything. Okay?” Sally smiled up at him. If he was closer, he would be rubbing his hands over Larry’s arms. 

Larry nodded and opened the cap. His fingers shook a bit as he spread it on his fingers. With Sally’s legs around him, it made it easier for him to start. He slowly pressed the tip of his index finger to Sally. He started by drawing circles against the skin, almost teasingly.

Larry looked to Sally for permission again. Sally nodded and Larry nodded back. 

Larry eased his fingertip inside, moving at a snails pace. Todd hadn’t explain in detail but he said to stretch him. Exactly how was he supposed to stretch him? Todd had said to use fingers but didn’t explain how to relax him.

So he moved his finger around, trying to figure out how to stretch him open. After a few moments, Larry looked to Sally again.

The look on Sally’s face went straight to his dick. He looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Sal?” Larry’s finger stilled.

“It’s okay.” Sally shifted his hips slightly. “Keep going.”

It didn’t hurt. It mostly felt weird to have something stretching him open. Larry was so careful with him like this. It was odd how loved it made him feel. Of course, Larry always made him feel that way.

“Fuck.” Larry swallowed again and started moving his finger against the sides. Every time he tried something new, he would gauge Sally for his reaction. Finally, Larry coaxed a second finger inside. It wasn’t until he tried curling them that he earned a moan. 

It surprised them both.

“Was that?..” Larry’s fingers stilled again.

“Good.” Sally took a breath. “Really good.”

Larry wanted to make him moan like that again. He wanted to know what it felt like to Sally. 

Larry started to move his fingers once more, trying to brush against that spot again. He wanted that reaction again. Every time he brushed against, Sally either moaned or inhaled sharply. Very good noises for Larry’s ego and his dick.

“Talk to me, Sal. What’re you feeling?” Just like that he was cocky again. “It’s it good? Is it bad? Should I stop?”

“If you stop I’ll haunt you.” Sally tapped Larry’s backside with the heel of his foot.

“Then talk to me.” Larry slipped a third finger inside and Sally could only gasp.

“You’re an asshole.” Sally panted. His fingers twisting into the sheets beneath him. 

“Is that so?” Larry started to thrusts his fingers into him, making sure to touch that spot with each thrust.

“Oh fuck.” Sally moaned again. 

He knew that if this continued he wouldn’t last. Which, was definitely an idea for another day, but he wanted Larry.

“Larry. Fuck. I think I’m good.”

Larry’s hand stopped. 

“Do you want me to stop?” 

Sally propped himself up enough to look at Larry.

“I want you... inside of me.”

“Holy shit.” Larry nodded and carefully eased out his fingers. He grabbed his discarded shirt and wiped his hand on it before he grabbed the box of condoms. He squinted at the box before opening it.

“Why did you get ones with flavors?” Not that he was complaining, but he wondered if it would make his dick smell like fruit.

“I panicked and just grabbed. Be glad I grabbed the right size. Now hurry up.” Sally gently nudged Larry with his foot. Larry tossed the box back at Sally with a grin and tore open the condom. He’d never actually had to use one before so it felt strange in his hands. He didn’t expect it to be so wet. 

“I’m gonna go as slow as I can. If you don’t like it then tell me. Or if you want me to stretch you more then tell me. Or-“

“Larry. I get it. It’s gonna be okay. Just... come here.” Sally opened his arms up and Larry smiled before he settled between his legs and leaned down to kiss Sally.

He held himself in his hand and bit his lip as he slowly guided himself inside. It felt amazing and all he wanted was to thrust inside, but he could never hurt Sally like that. So he took a deep breath and steadied himself.

He stared down at Sally, ready to stop at a moments notice. Sally’s hands settled on his arms, giving him gentle squeezes to encourage him. So Larry continued forward. 

Sally moaned as Larry slowly filled him. It was uncomfortable but not painfully so. So Sally closed his eyes and tried to relax. He wanted Larry to feel good so he would endure feeling uncomfortable.

When Larry was fully inside, they kissed again. They stayed like that for a moment, allowing Sally’s body to adjust to him. It felt far more intimate than what they’d ever done before. Larry’s hands rubbed at his thighs, teasing him by avoiding touching his dick but getting close. So close.

“Larry?” Sally looked up at his boyfriend. His oh so loving, doting, and patient boyfriend.

“Yeah, baby?” Larry looked almost pained. He was dying to move but Sally came first. Sally would always come first.

“You can move now.” Sally pushed his own hair out of his face and watched as Larry nodded again. Larry gripped Sally’s hips just enough to hold on and started to thrust at a slow pace. 

“Fuck, Sal.” Larry leaned forward as he moved his hips. His long hair was spilt over Sally’s body, almost draping him. With every thrust, his hair tickled along Sally’s skin. 

It was such an odd sensation for Sally, to have Larry moving in and out of him. It was different than his fingers but somehow better. He could see the appeal to doing this more often but it was also a lot of work to get to this point.

Sally made a small noise as Larry leaned up again and hoisted one of Sally’s legs up until his knee rested on his shoulder. It caught him by surprise to be shifted suddenly, but, to his surprise it turned him on more. Larry was nearly manhandling him and he liked it.

“Oh fuck.” Sally groaned at the shift. Larry was deeper now and with each thrust he was brushing against that spot again. 

“Sally.” Larry panted and pressed a kiss to his knee. “You’re so amazing, Sally. Fuck. So fucking amazing.”

Oh. That went right to his dick. 

“Larry.” Sally moaned louder as Larry wrapped his hand around his dick and started stroking him at the same pace as his hips. He really wouldn’t last long like this. They’d have to build up their stamina. Later, he told himself. For now, he was focused on how Larry looked, the sounds he made, and the way it felt under him. 

It didn’t take long for their pace to speed up, their hips bucking as quickly as they could now as they chased their orgasms. Sally could only grip the sheets as he thrusted his hips up into Larry’s hand. 

“Sally, baby.” Larry spoke between pants. He was close. They both were. 

“Yeah.” Sally gasped. “I’m close, Larry.”

Larry leaned forward a bit, holding on tight to Sally’s leg as he tried to thrust in deeper.

“Me too. Fuck. Let me see you, baby. I wanna see you come for me.” 

Sally really wanted to know who taught Larry to talk like that. It’s all he needed to hear though, because he was coming. His back arched off the bed as he came, Larry’s name falling off his lips like a mantra. Larry wasn’t far behind him. With just a few shallow thrusts, he was coming.

They stayed there for a moment as they slowly recovered. Larry was careful as he pulled out of Sally and laid his leg back onto the bed. 

Sally wondered if he would get in trouble if he slept over. He had a change of clothes and anything else he needed here. Tomorrow was Monday so there was a possibility of trouble but, he didn’t think he cared at the moment. He pushed the pillows out from under his hips and waited for Larry to come back to bed.

Larry moved back onto the bed with a damp cloth and took to cleaning Sally. The moisture left on his skin made him shiver. 

For once, Sally didn’t want to get up and shower after coming. His body was tired. 

Larry pilled up their dirty laundry and set it in the hamper. They’d have to wash it and the sheets later. For now, all Sally wanted was to curl up with Larry beside him and sleep for an eternity.

“You don’t wanna shower?” Larry moved onto the bed, his hand resting on Sally’s stomach.

“For once? No. I don’t think I can move.”

That seemed to concern Larry.

“Did I hurt you? Fuck, I’m so-“

Sally put his hand on Larry’s mouth.

“It was awesome. I’m just tired and a little sore. Don’t apologize.” Sally reached up for him and Larry gladly moved down and into his arms. Tonight, Sally wanted to hold Larry close and relax. He knew tomorrow would bring mail and mail could mean more letters or possibly none at all.

Larry reached over and shut the light off, shifting back onto the bed until his back met Sally’s front. He set the alarm with a little extra time so they could shower before leaving. Tomorrow was a problem for later and for now they were perfectly content to hold each other and sleep.

Sally was asleep before Larry for once. He’d have to look up after care so he could take better care of Sally. And maybe next time Sally would be in him. Another thought for later. Larry closed his eyes and listened to the even breathing of his boyfriend behind him. Despite everything that weighed on his shoulders, he was confident that he could do anything for Sally. He loved him after all. And maybe soon he would have the courage to tell him so. Maybe.

Maybe.


	4. A little fire to fan the flames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe I’m still managing to churn out unnecessary chapters to this but I love Sally and Larry so much.
> 
> There’s no smut in this chapter either so that’s a change for me.
> 
> Again, if there’s any spelling or grammar errors, that’s my phone to blame. It always changes things when I don’t want it to...
> 
> Also I apologize if I got glass eye care wrong, google didn’t give me much to go on other than “for some people it’s comfortable to sleep with it in!”

Days. There were just days left until graduation came. Every passing day without any letter just built up on Larry’s shoulders.

Sally had been so caught up in his project with Todd that he hadn’t noticed. He blamed himself when he went downstairs to find Larry slumped over his desk, an unfinished painting drying on the easel.

When he entered the apartment he caught Lisa on her way out to fix another sink.

“Thanks for coming, Sal.” She gave him a sad smile. “He got another letter today and he hasn’t come out since.”

“I hate seeing him like this.” Sally sighed and set his backpack on the coat hanger by the door.

“I know. Take care of him while I’m gone Okay?” She kissed his forehead and was on her way out.

He and Todd had been working through the nights to get their project completed. Getting it done sooner meant they could move into finalizing and putting a patent on it. Soon, they could use it and try to get it off the ground for their own careers. Sally hadn’t said much about it to Larry yet, just that he and Todd were working on something.

Sally frowned as he entered the room. Larry had another rejection letter on the desk. His heart sank for his boyfriend.

“Oh Larry.” He moved over to the desk and reached out to stroke his hair. 

They were only waiting on two more letters and that would be it.

“Come on, Larry face. Let’s lay down.” Sally rubbed his back with his palm, coaxing him out of the chair.

Sally kicked off his shoes and pulled the covers up so they could settle under it. Once Larry was under the blanket, Sally removed his prosthetic and slid into the bed beside him.

“We don’t have to talk about it. We could listen to music or I’ll just talk.” Sally drew Larry in close and ran his fingers through his hair. Larry mumbled and pushed up Sally’s shirt before he managed to put his head under it.

“Bury me here.” Larry sighed and nuzzled his way close to Sally’s chest.

“Yeah? Good thing this is your shirt otherwise I’d be mad that you’re stretching it.” That got Larry’s attention. He pulled back and looked at his shirt.

“You wore my shirt today? I didn’t even notice. Shit. That’s... pretty hot.” There was something about the idea of Sally wearing Larry’s oversized clothes that thrilled him. Maybe because it was his boyfriend proudly wearing his clothes around for others to see.

“You’re so easy to please.” Sally smiled at him. 

“You just know how to make me happy.” Larry leaned in for a kiss. 

When they pulled apart Larry sighed again. His thoughts already turned back to the letter.

“Larry.” Sally rubbed his hands over Larry’s arms. 

“I just... If the next two are no’s then-“

“Then we figure it out. You could try commissions or even community college classes. We’ll figure it out, Larry. And it’ll be okay.” 

Larry sighed again and looked at him.

“Yeah. So what’ve you been up to with Todd? How’s that project?” He wanted to change the subject. There was no point dwelling on the negative now. Not while the biggest positive in his life was beside him.

“Oh. We’re really close. I’m gonna test it tonight and see if it works. Neil suggested we record it. He said we should market it but, not in a bad way. Like, to get attention so we could be easier to find.” They’d been working hard on it. And tonight was their first beta test. Usually, Todd’s inventions worked well without testing but this could be a big breakthrough.

“You okay with that thought? Being the face of it?” Larry knew that Sally liked to be in the background more than anything. He didn’t like a lot of attention because of his prosthetic. It made people bother him.

“I should get used to it right? I mean, what normal job would take me?” It was a harsh reality Sally had thought about before. People stared at him and often would avoid him. If he had a normal job, even just in a shop or something, as long as he had to interact with people, it wasn’t a good outlook. School was tough enough as it was but he could defend himself there. But at a job he’d have to tolerate it.

“Sal, you put your all into everything you do. Any job would be lucky to have you. But if this is what you want then I’m behind you. I’ll delete every comment and burn every bad letter you might get.”

Sally chuckled at that.

“Wow, what a white knight.” He gently smacked at Larry’s hands as they climbed up the front of his shirt.

“I’ll be your biggest defender, Sally. Anyone who wants to try you has to go through me first.” It was a sweet thought. One that had Sally’s chest swelling with fondness and love.

“I’ll leave that to you then. Come on. Let’s eat before I go test our project.” Sally was moving out of the bed and Larry gave him a pout. He wanted to stay in bed but he had sulked long enough for one day.

He got out of bed and straightened out his shirt.

“Do you want to keep painting and I’ll make us something?” Sally grabbed his prosthetic off of the nightstand and set it back into place. 

“Will you paint my nails instead?” Larry looked at his nails. The paint was chipped and he’d even nervously scratched the paint off of a few entirely. The paint was good for him, it kept him from biting his nails down. Before Sally had started painting them, he had worn them down until his fingers hurt. But with the anxiety of college, he was chipping the polish off or just biting it with polish on.

“Oh. Yeah. Of course. Grab the stuff and I’ll start cooking something up.” 

Larry gave him a small smile and started digging in one of their drawers as Sally went back to the kitchen. He’d started buying groceries specifically for Lisa’s kitchen and Lisa gratefully let him use the kitchen and cook meals for them all. One of these days, Sally would manage to get all four of them together for a real dinner together.

Today though, he was content to cook for the two of them, always trying to leave extra for Lisa so she had a meal when she came home. She was starting to gain some weight back and with it, her energy. Sally was glad that she was starting to feel better. He wondered if her dating his dad had helped her.

Sally set to work on making something simple. He was going to bake macaroni and cheese. It was easy and filling.

He set the water to boil and sat on the table as Larry set the items beside him. Sally loved doing this for Larry. Larry would, in return, paint Sally’s. He was more creative when he did it though. They never cared if others mocked them for it. This was intimate to them.

Larry had already cleaned his nails of the left over polish so Sally could get started sooner. Sally carefully painted each nail black, stopping only to work on the food. Once it was in the oven, he let himself focus on just painting. 

After his nails were dry, he applied the clear coat and left Larry to let his nails dry. 

They sat beside each other as they ate. Larry spoke about the new, up-coming Sanity’s Fall album and Sally talked about the beta test tonight and what a successful test could mean for them. Larry cleaned the dishes and counters as Sally packed up the leftovers, leaving a note on it for Lisa.

When they finished up they headed for Todd’s apartment. Sally was eager to see if their project worked.

It made his body tingle with anticipation. 

Todd greeted them at the door and let them inside. His parents were asleep on the couch, usual for this time of the evening. Sally never did ask what they did for a living and he had a feeling that he didn’t want to know either.

“Hey, Sally, Larry.” Neil was sitting at the desk. “Welcome to the party.”

Neil was a good person. He didn’t attend school with them so it wasn’t often that he saw him. But he was a good person that Sally was grateful to have a friend in. Plus, he and Todd were so... cute.

“Sup, Neil.” Larry greeted him before seating himself onto Todd’s bed.

“Hey.” Sally put his hand up in a greeting.

“Ready to do a full beta tonight?” Todd closed the door and grabbed Sally’s modified guitar. He handed it to Sally who took it and slid the strap over himself.

“Yeah. Where are we doing it?” Sally slid his fingers over the neck of his guitar, admiring the new wires moving through it.

“We’re going to Nockfell Mills. It’s caught fire more times than anyone can count so maybe something supernatural is happening there.” Todd had gone a long way from being a skeptic just a few short years ago.

“I’ve also modified the Gear Boy so it’ll pick up on spirits sooner and it’ll glow brighter as you get closer to one. It’ll make it easier to find them.” Neil handed the Gear Boy to Larry to hold. 

“Oh, awesome. You didn’t tell me you were upgrading the Gear Boy too.” Sally sat beside Larry and looked at the screen.

Sally let himself get familiar with his modified guitar as Todd and Neil readied themselves. The mill wasn’t far but it wasn’t close either and they wanted to be back before their parents woke up.

None of them had a car either so it would be tough for them to get there quickly. They all had bikes, save for Sally. It wasn’t something he needed once he and his father moved. But Larry’s bike had bars for Sally to stand on and Sally would happily hold onto Larry for the trip.

The four left the apartments and pulled out their bikes. Neil wasn’t going to be joining them unfortunately. Since he didn’t live in the apartments it made it harder for him to sneak around. He kissed Todd goodnight and wished them luck on their test before he headed home.

Larry had insisted that Sally wear his helmet for the ride. Sally had argued for a bit until the look on Larry’s face made him concede. 

He stood on the bars that jutted out from the back of Larry’s bike, his hands gently gripping his shoulders for balance.

“You two are cute.” Todd laughed as he rode down the street beside them. It was dark outside so it made it easier for them to hide.

“Don’t be jealous.” Larry grinned and pedaled faster. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not.” 

Sally felt a moment of peace as he felt the wind moving through his hair. It was quiet outside and the starts were bright. He wondered if one day he could convince Addison to let him and Larry stargaze on the roof. 

They rolled up to the parking lot of the mill and left their bikes near a bush to try and conceal them. The building had caught fire just a week prior and now they were unsure if they would even try to reopen it. It meant that no one would be there, unless they hired some security to guard the half burned building.

Sally left the helmet by the bike and held the Gear Boy in his hands, his guitar slung against his back. Todd would have to walk him through how to use it.

The front doors, understandably, were chained shut. The back was most likely shut as well but there were smaller doors and even broken windows. They didn’t even bother boarding it up or anything. Why would they? There was nothing of value inside. It was an old mill, not a bank.

They moved to the side of the building, shining their lights along the way to keep from stepping on glass. They stopped at a lower window with the most missing glass and decided that would be their entrance.

Larry wrapped his hand up in his scarf and punched the remaining glass out of the window. The other two hadn’t expected that or thought about how they could have cut themselves up from climbing in.

“That... was smart.” Todd had made a noise, sounding impressed.

Sally had just blinked, watching as his boyfriend unwrapped his hand and tried to shake the glass from his scarf. That was definitely not going back around him.

Sally didn’t want to admit that he was actually turned on from that display.

Larry used his scarf to dust the windowsill free of glass and vaulted into the building.

Okay. He was turned on.

Todd struggled a bit to climb up and into the building and Sally struggled the most. He was shorter after all. Once he was seated on the window, Larry gripped his hips and easily set him on the ground.

He was really turned on.

Larry carefully placed his scarf in his backpack and patted the loose glass that didn’t really exist off of Sally’s behind.

Sally smacked Larry’s hand and took the Gear Boy from his bag.

“Just making sure.” Larry grinned and shined his flashlight around.

“Stop flirting, we’re here for a reason.” Todd shook his head and shined his own light.

It smelled strongly of smoke, even after all the rain they’d had recently. 

“Masks on.” Todd held out masks for them. Sally didn’t take it, he didn’t really need it with the prosthetic. Larry and Todd put theirs on and they started to make their trek through the building. The glass crunches underneath their shoes as they walked. 

Sally started up the Gear Boy and it glowed faintly in the darkness.

“There’s been quite a few deaths in this building.” Todd said as he shined his light onto some debris in front of them. “I have a feeling that the saws will give us some activity.”

“If there’s any left.” Larry pointed his light onto a half burned conveyor belt. It had once pushed large trees through the building to the saw before it was processed down. It was a good start. They followed the belt down towards the melted remains of the saw, the Gear Boy glowing brighter with each step. 

Sally stopped as a figure slowly built itself up and showed itself to them. It was a rather burly looking woman that had burns over most of her body.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice was almost hushed. She didn’t sound like she was threatening them, instead, she was warning them. “Such young boys in a bad place like this. Please, leave. It’s not safe.”

The sight never seemed to settle well with Todd. He shrank back a bit and watched her with wide eyes.

“My name is Sally. This is Todd and that’s Larry. We’re here to help. Can you tell us your name?” Sally took a step towards her. He was calmer in these situations than he should be.

“Janice, dear. But that doesn’t matter. He won’t want you here. He doesn’t want anyone here. It’s why he-“ She stood straighter, fear in her eyes. “Go. He’s coming.”

And like that, Janice was gone. The Gear Boy light faded but still glowed.

“Who’s coming?” Larry shined his light around them.

“We’re gonna find out.” Sally lowered the device and started walking again.

“Janice Stratford, age forty-two at time of death.” Todd read from his phone. “Cause of death was smoke inhalation and third degree burns over eighty percent of her body. Date of death... September twenty eighth, nineteen thirty one.” 

“It was the second fire recorded.” Todd added.

“So she’s not the oldest victim here.” Sally looked back at them. Larry moved back to Sally’s side, shining his light ahead to guide him.

“So we’re not gonna listen to the dead lady then?” Larry knew how stubborn Sally was. He didn’t have to ask because he already knew that they wouldn’t turn back.

“If we figure this out, maybe she can rest.” Sally followed the light as it grew brighter. The only problem was that they hit a wall. Literally. The second story was nearly crumbled in on itself but that’s where the light wanted them to go. Sally looked around in the darkness.

“So what now?” Larry asked. 

“Well...” Todd flashed the light onto the conveyor belt. Sally wasted no time. He set the Gear Boy on the belt and climbed up onto the belt. 

“Shit, Sal. Careful.” Larry climbed up after him, Todd joining him after. 

“If it held trees it can hold us.” Sally started to trek up the slope of the conveyor belt. Larry didn’t agree with his logic, especially considering that the belt was damaged from the fire. But, he didn’t argue. He just stayed behind Sally, ready to catch him if he fell.

The Gear Boy got brighter as he went up and up. Sally stumbled back as a figure built up in front of them. Larry reached out and grabbed his shoulders to steady him.

The figure that appeared was... Gorey. They knew immediately that he’d died from the saw itself. Sally didn’t want to remember this encounter later.

“Pushed!” It screamed. “He pushed me!” 

The figure nearly split in half as it reached out for Sally. 

“Holy Shit!” Todd slipped and fell onto his behind as Larry pulled Sally away from the figure. It’s hands moved through Sally and it vanished just like that. It left a cold chill that ran through every vein in Sally’s body.

“Okay! I think we’re good yeah?” Larry didn’t let go of Sally.

Sally took a moment, trying to sort out his mind.

“We can’t yet.” Sally looked back at Todd and moved over to help him to his feet.

“We haven’t tested the guitar yet. This could help a lot of people.” Sally knew how hard Todd had worked on the guitar and he wanted to make the trip worth while.

“If anything, I have ideas for upgrades. I could install a phone to the Gear Boy so it could pull up information about the spirit based on what it gives us and the location of death.” Todd cleaned his glasses on his shirt before patting his back off. 

“I don’t like this idea.” Larry frowned. He had every right to be concerned. They were in a condemned building that was burned up and filled with death. It wasn’t exactly a place any of them wanted to be.

“It’s fine.” Sally glanced up at Larry. He wanted to give him a reassuring smile but he obviously couldn’t show it. Instead, he held the Gear Boy in one hand and touched Larry’s arm with the other.

Larry sighed and pushed his hair back. As much as he wanted them to run out, he knew how much this test meant to the two. If the guitar did what they hoped it did, then they could help a lot of people. Not to mention it could mean a successful future for them and Larry couldn’t hold them back.

“Yeah. Alright. But I’m staying right behind you to catch you if that happens again.”

“Alright, big guy.” Sally smirked under his prosthetic and continued forward. 

The three of them walked up the slanted belt and stopped when it evened out again. Just a few feet below the belt was the charred remains of the second story floor. Neither of them thought it was safe to even attempt to walk on. The smell was stronger on the second floor. There was pieces of the ceiling that had crashed to the floor, exposing parts of the structure above. Sally almost wanted to go back for their helmets. 

They took a few more steps until they reached the largest saw blade in the mill. The fire had melted and warped most of it, which said something about how hot it had burned if it was able to melt such a strong metal.

“Hey, guys?” Todd flashed his light at a small office room. The window was shattered and the door was completely gone. The structure itself otherwise looked... intact. As if the fire didn’t even touch it.

“That’s... really weird.” Sally pointed the Gear Boy at the office and it started to shine brightly. 

Suddenly, the ground shook. 

From the office, large claws appeared on either side of the door and scrapped the doorframe. Sally shoved the Gear Boy into Todd’s hands and slid his guitar into his hands. This was it.

The ground shook again and they nearly toppled backwards as the creature screeched.

“Sally! Now!” Todd yelled as the creature squeezed it’s large frame out of the small office. It was all black with piercing green eyes. It was larger than a bear and it hunched over. It’s legs were short but it’s arms were long and massive in size. It’s claws dragged on the ground as it moved towards them.

The Gear Boy emitted a loud noise that had the demon shrieking in what they hoped was pain.

Sally took his chance and matched the noise from the Gear Boy and started playing. 

The demon was thrashing now, trying to move away from the noise. It’s body slammed back into the office and destroyed it. It shrieked louder as its body seemed to start burning away.

The Gear Boy changed pitch and Sally quickly matched the key again. 

It was working. The demon slammed its clawed hands onto the ground and shook the building again. 

Finally, the demon faded away completely, leaving nothing but black ash where it stood.

“Holy Shit.” Larry blinked. 

The Gear Boy seemed to turn off completely and Sally’s shoulders slumped as he lowered his guitar.

“Did it work?” Sally looked at the pile of ash.

“I... I think so?” Todd tapped the screen of the Gear Boy. “It’s not responding. Maybe that shorted it out.”

The building shook again and black smoke started to rise from the ground. As it traveled upwards, it turned clear. The building was still shaking causing parts of the roof to start collapsing.

“We need to go!” Larry ushered the two of them to the slope of the belt. They slid down one at a time and headed for the open window. Todd vaulted out of the window first, Larry pulled Sally up to the ledge and Todd helped him down quickly. Larry climbed out last and the three ran to their bikes.

When they were finally by their bikes, they looked at the building as it collapsed. A cloud of black smoke bursted out and slowly faded away. 

They climbed onto the bikes quickly and fled before any authorities could arrive. The last thing they wanted was to be blamed for this.

Sally counted the test as a success. At least, until he saw the small train of blood traveling down Larry’s left arm. His heart twisted in his chest. This was his fault. He didn’t know when that had happened, likely during their escape, but Larry was ignoring it. The look on his face said that he was aware of the cut.

“Larry-“ He started.

“When we get home, babe.” Larry cut him off. Sally held onto his shoulders and fought the need to peel back the shirt to look at the cut. What if he needed stitches?

He’d never forgive himself if he caused Larry to scar.

“We’ll talk about the results tomorrow.” Todd decided for them as they parked their bikes. Larry didn’t let him see the cut and quickly took Sally back to his room. He hadn’t left any blood on the floor so that was a good sign.

Luckily, Lisa was already in bed so they quietly crept to the bathroom in the basement. Larry pulled his shirt off as soon as he was past the door, Sally closed it behind them and followed him to the bathroom.

“Larry I’m sorry.” Sally grabbed a towel and wet it as Larry leaned forward until his arm hovered over the sink.

“It’s not your fault, Sal. You’re my priority, I wanted to make sure you were safe.” It didn’t look deep but it had left dried blood over his arm. It looked worse than it seemed.

“When did you get hurt?” Sally cleaned the dried blood off of Larry’s arm. A shower would probably be better.

“Getting out the window. I think glass from the second story windows fell.” It had cut a hole into his sweater and his shirt. Sally didn’t want to think about how much worse it could have been without the layers.

Sally felt terrible. Larry had gotten hurt making sure that he was safe.

Larry opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of alcohol.

“Baby? Can you clean it for me?” Larry held the bottle out for Sally, giving it a gentle shake.

Sally didn’t want to hurt Larry but the cut definitely needed to be cleaned. 

“Let’s do it in the shower. We both stink like smoke.” Sally took the bottle and set it inside the shower. Without even thinking, Sally took his prosthetic off and set it on the counter before he started to remove his sweater.

Larry smiled at him. He loved Sally. He really did. He wanted to make a joke about “doing it in the shower” but he bit his tongue and undressed. He grabbed the tiny spray bottle Sally started keeping in the bathroom and rinsed his prosthetic for him before spritzing it with the bottle. He meant it when he said that Sally was his priority.

He wanted to address Sally’s eye. He knew that Sally didn’t enjoy sleeping in it but he always did when he slept over. But, he’d only just gotten Sally to feel comfortable being without his prosthetic and he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. He’d started leaving a glass in the bathroom, hopeful that maybe one day Sally would use it for his eye.

Larry watched fondly as Sally moved around the bathroom, getting their towels and clean clothes ready to go. He put their dirty clothes in the hamper and finally closed the bathroom door before he let his hair down.

He let Sally usher him into the warm spray. He could only smile as the smaller lathered up the soap and started cleaning him. They’d gotten more and more comfortable with each other since they’d started dating. Yet, everything still felt exciting and intimate.

Larry closed his eyes as Sally started to scrub his scalp. When he stepped under the spray to rinse off, he noticed Sally closing the bottle of alcohol.

“Did you already clean it?” Larry glanced down at the cut.

“Yeah. While I washed your hair. I figured it would distract you from it.” Sally started to work the conditioner into the ends of Larry’s hair. There was something soothing about caring for someone else like this that put Sally at ease.

They showered together in silence, enjoying each other’s company as they washed up.

Once they were clean and dry, they dressed Larry’s arm and slipped into their pajamas before retreating to bed.

Sally rubbed his eyes as he climbed into his side of the bed. 

“Sally?” Larry sat on the bed and looked at him. He was beautiful. He really was. He knew Sally would never believe him, but he was. Even without his prosthetic, he tried to hide his face with his hair.

“Mm?” Sally looked up at him. He was exhausted. And he had every right to be. Larry wasn’t sure but he thought that they’d dispelled that demon, so Sally should be tired.

“You shouldn’t sleep with your eye in. It’s probably super uncomfortable right?” He had to try. “There’s a glass in the bathroom if you want.”

Sally just blinked at him. Sally knew then that he really was in love with Larry.

“Is that why you left it there? I was getting ready to tell you to put it in the kitchen.” Sally smiled at him. Larry had that shy look about him again. Sally wanted to kiss him.

“I thought, maybe when you got comfortable enough, you’d use it. I want you to be comfortable around me, Sally.”

He really wanted to kiss him. 

Oh. He could. Sally nearly forgot that he could kiss Larry whenever he wanted to.

Sally moved over to Larry and kissed him. It was gentle, but he hoped it would convey how much he loved him. Larry relaxed against him and eased into the kiss. 

After a moment, Sally pulled back and smiled up at Larry.

“It’s not that uncomfortable for me. But if it’ll ease your mind, I’ll take it out.” He gave a gentle pinch to Larry’s side and slid out of bed. He was grateful that it was Saturday; it meant no school or duties tomorrow so he could sleep in and run upstairs tomorrow to clean his eye before putting it back in.

Larry was always surprising him like this. He always thought of Sally and his needs or how he could make him happy. It made Sally anxious to tell him that he loved him but he wanted to do it when it felt just right. Although, he was sure that Larry loved him in return.

Sally carefully removed his eye and filled the glass with water before he placed his eye inside. He looked at himself in the mirror, staring at too-familiar scars. It was a sight he was used to but it never made him feel any better about it. He really didn’t understand how or why Larry would want to see him like this.

“Babe?” The bed creaked. Sally shut the light off and moved back to the bed. Larry was sitting at the edge of the bed, possibly anxious from the long wait.

“You okay?” Larry gave him a look of concern. Sally had crawled back onto the bed and pulled the blanket up.

“I’m fine. Lay down with me.” Sally glanced up at him and patted the bed. Larry smiled and shifted until he was under the covers with his boyfriend.

Larry gathered Sally in his arms and rested his chin on Sally’s head.

“Ugh.” Sally gave him a gentle shove as the hair on Larry’s chin scratched him. “I wish you would shave.”

“Oh yeah?” Larry laughed and rubbed his chin against Sally’s scalp.

“Oh my god no! You monster!” Sally tried to whisper as he shoved at Larry. Larry only tightened his hold on him and nuzzled into his neck to rub his face there.

“Don’t pretend like it doesn’t turn you on, baby.” Larry mumbled into his neck.

“It really doesn’t. What did was when you punched out that window and jumped in.” Sally gave a gentle tug at Larry’s hair.

“Oh yeah? You like bad boys?” Larry moved above Sally and grinned down at him.

“I could call you glass puncher. I’ll introduce you like that to people. ‘This is my boyfriend glass puncher.’ And then you come in wearing a leather jacket.” Sally chuckled up at him.

“You’d introduce me as your boyfriend?” Larry looked, well, a little surprised but happy. 

“Yeah. Of course.” Sally reached up for him, gently touching his face. He really did wish that Larry would shave, but that was Larry’s choice to do so or not. Maybe it would look good if he could actually grow it out instead of it looking patchy. He still loved him, scratchy face and all.

Larry huffed out a small laugh and leaned down to kiss him again. They were too tired to do anything further tonight, but for the moment, this was perfect.

When morning rolled around, or rather, when noon rolled around, the boys dragged themselves up stairs. Larry poured them cereal and they sat at the tv, leaning against one another as they slowly ate. They were still half asleep.

Or at least they were until Sally’s phone started to ring. He hoped it wasn’t his father. Sally looked at the screen. It was Todd. 

“Todd?” Sally placed Todd on speaker.

“Channel seven. They’re talking about the mill.” Todd spoke. Larry changed the channel to seven and they watched as the reporter stood in front of the collapsed mill.

“It seems that the old Nockfell Mill finally collapsed from the latest fire. The fire marshal announced today that the structure had already been condemned due to the unsafe state of the building. Luckily, no one was inside.” The camera panned out to show the damage of the building from an aerial view.

“Holy shit.” Larry spoke while he chewed.

“Lucky for us they didn’t have any cameras.” Todd said.

“Lucky we didn’t die.” Sally sighed.

“Yeah. Well, come by later when you two love birds are done with whatever you were doing. We can talk about it.”

Sally nodded before remembering that this was a phone call and Todd couldn’t actually see him.

“Alright. See you later, Todd.” Sally hung up and leaned back into the couch. He closed his eyes and tried to relax his nerves. He heard Larry set his bowl on the coffee table, cursing softly as he spilt a little milk. That’s what he got for not finishing his milk.

Despite knowing that they could have been hurt, Sally knew that it meant that the mill was gone and couldn’t take anymore lives.

“I hope the spirits were able to move on.” Larry said as he took their bowls to the kitchen.

“Me too.” Sally glanced over at Larry and smiled.

“So what do you wanna do besides talk to Todd? I mean your guitar rocked last night. If you don’t make it as a ghost buster then you could always start a band.” Larry collapsed back onto the couch, making Sally’s cushion jump under him.

“I dunno.” Sally leaned his head against Larry’s shoulder. “But I hope it involves you shaving.”

“Not likely!” Larry laughed as he pushed Sally against the couch and started rubbing his face against him again. Sally laughed as he pushed at him.

He really did love him, and he couldn’t wait for them to begin the next step of their lives together. But first they had to graduate.


	5. :O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No smut in this chapter sorry but lots of fluff for my own sanity

Today was Friday. Usually, that meant that the weekend was here and they could relax. But today, that meant that tomorrow was graduation day. Larry had gotten a letter from his school of choice and he paced through his room. He refused to open it without Sally. 

Sally had stayed later at school, reassuring Larry that he would talk to him about why later. So now Larry was waiting anxiously for him to come. Sally was his good luck charm and he could get all the luck he could take today.

He plopped into his desk chair and swiveled himself, feet tapping impatiently on the floor. He was also nervous about tomorrow. Their last day wasn’t until Wednesday but graduation was a big deal! It wasn’t like he was graduating with honors or anything but it still meant something. It was Todd that was graduating as a valedictorian and that was no surprise to anyone. Sally had a special tassel that was for his honor roll or something. He forgot what it was called but he was damn proud of his boyfriend.

They couldn’t afford the gowns but they didn’t really want them anyways. They did get the mortarboards though and that was enough. 

Larry spun in his chair and stopped when he came full circle. The letter was stating him in the face begging to be opened. 

“Ugh! Stupid letter...” Larry huffed at it and stood up. He couldn’t just stare at it all day, he had to distract himself. He told himself that he should paint something.

So he moved to his easel and stared at the blank canvas. He opened the organized container of his supplies, something Sally and his mom had gotten him for his birthday, and he made great use of it. He couldn’t let himself think. So he grabbed the first few tubes and laid them out. They weren’t colors that exactly went together well, but maybe that was a good challenge for him. So he put on some music and got to work.

Larry let himself forget everything for the moment and painted. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but when he tore himself away from the canvas it was only because Sally was standing beside it. He hadn’t even realized that Sally had come in.

“Wow.” Sally said, staring at the vivid colors that stretched out. And... onto the floor as well.

“I didn’t even hear you come in.” Larry blamed the music. Even though it wasn’t that loud.

“This is really amazing, Larry.” Sally looked up and reached out to wipe a purple splotch off of his neck. “You really need a bigger place for your art. One day you’ll be on display with how much gets on you.”

“Oh yeah? Would you hang me on your wall?” Larry set the brush into the cup of now black water.

“Mm. But I’m not allowed to touch the art. That’s like, rule one.”

“Just tell the guards that painting is your boyfriend.” Larry chuckled and pulled Sally close. They’d only been apart for a few short hours but he’d missed him terribly.

“I don’t think you can date a painting.” Sally chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Larry. He squeaked as Larry held his waist tightly and lifted him off the ground. 

“I missed you!” Larry laughed as Sally wrapped his legs around him.

“Don’t you dare drop me.” Sally tugged at his hair. He wasn’t against the man handling, but he hadn’t been expecting it. 

“I’d never!” Larry walked them to the bed and sat down. It wasn’t often that he had Sally in his lap, so he fully intended to milk it and keep him there for as long as he could.

“So what’d you stay after for?” Larry settled his hands on Sally’s behind, making the smaller jump.

“I was talking to someone. You’re not going to like who.” That got him Larry’s full attention. There wasn’t many people they disliked. For Larry, he disliked anyone who said or did anything negative to Sally or to any of his friends, but Sally was an easy target for bullying. But only one person had been a problem before. 

“Why were you talking to Travis? Did he do hit you again?” Larry was already reaching back to unclasp Sally’s prosthetic. Before he could unclasp both, Sally’s hands gently wrapped around his wrists and pulled them down into their laps.

“I... talked to him once before last year. We were so busy with other stuff that I forgot to mention it.” Sally let go of Larry’s wrists and removed his prosthetic to appease him. Larry’s hands gently touched his face, looking for any new injuries.

“So why did you talk to that prick?” Larry’s voice wasn’t harsh, but he never forgave Travis for his harsh words and for punching Sally.

“Okay, So you know his dad is a homophobic preacher right? Well, he’s also abusive. And... Travis isn’t straight. His dad doesn’t know that but he still...” Sally frowned, watching Larry closely. He wasn’t sure if Larry would be upset at him for talking to Travis or not, he would never be angry though.

“Oh. I Uh, always thought his bruises were from fights. Still, that doesn’t make it okay for him to act how he does. He can’t take it out on others.” Larry took one of Sally’s hands and kisses his knuckles. While he didn’t like that Sally was talking to Travis, he obviously couldn’t control him. And Sally had a good heart and wanted to save everyone. It was something Larry admired about him.

“I know. And he knows too. He hasn’t really acted up since the first time I talked to him. I found his note last year about how he liked someone but it was wrong. Since then, he’s been calmer.” Sally curled his fingers over Larry’s, pressing his thumb into a green splotch of paint there.

“So what did you talk about today?” 

Sally bit his lip and looked into Larry’s eyes.

“He wants help. He wants to leave. He’s not in a good place, Lar.”

Larry sighed softly, his fingers threading with Sally’s.

“So what’s the plan?” That got Sally to smile at him. He knew that Sally couldn’t help everyone, but he would always try. Larry couldn’t call himself a good boyfriend if he didn’t support him.

“Well, I need to talk to dad and Lisa. There’s no real plan yet but maybe they can help.” 

“Maybe. We’ll talk to them okay?” Larry leaned in and kissed Sally’s cheek. Sally laughed softly and pushed him away.

“You really need to shave.” He gave Larry’s face a gentle pat.

“Keep trying.” Larry grinned and laid back, keeping Sally set on his lap. “Oh, I got another letter today.”

Larry pointed at the letter on the desk. Sally gave his stomach a pat before he stood up and picked it up.

“I want you to open it.” Larry sat back up and stared at him and patted his lap. “But I still want you in my lap so come back here.”

Sally huffed at him and smiled as he shook his head before resigning to his fate. He faced Larry and hooked his legs around Larry’s waist. Once he was seated, Larry’s hands rested on his hips.

“Okay. Open it.” Larry’s voice was quiet. Sally hated to see him like this. Broken down by a stupid letter. No one should have to feel what he felt. Yet, thousands did. 

Sally took a deep breath before he slid his finger under the opened slit of the top of the envelope. He carefully slid his finger across it to open it. 

“Do you want me to read it too?” Sally unfolded the letter, using great restraint by looking at Larry instead of scanning the letter.

“Yeah. Please.” Larry gave his hips a gentle squeeze.

“Okay.” Sally looked at the paper and tried to scan to the important part. The last few letters had long paragraphs explaining how they loved his work but not enough to enroll him.

“Dear, Mr. Johnson... blah blah blah. We love your work... blah blah blah.” Sally skimmed through the letter. “We are sorry-“

Larry huffed and laid his head on Sally’s shoulder.

“Fuck.” Larry sighed again.

“Wait wait. Hang on. ‘We are sorry that this letter is reaching you so late. We are behind in processing letters. However...’” Sally looked up at Larry and smiled brightly. “Larry, this is a yes!”

Larry pulled back and moved the paper so Sally held one half and he held the other.

“‘Your work is innovative and fresh. We look forward to meeting you.’ Holy fuck. Holy fuck!” Larry wrapped his arms around Sally and laughed. He laughed harder than he had in a long time. It was music to Sally’s ears.

“You did it!” Sally couldn’t stop grinning. Larry had pulled him down onto him so they were lying back and he even managed to roll them over. 

“I knew you were good luck!” Larry laughed until tears filled his eyes. It was an overwhelming relief.

“Bullshit, I opened the first one!” Sally leaned in to press kisses onto Larry’s scratchy face. He really wished he would shave.

“And you opened this one!” Larry laid on his back and let out a sigh of relief. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, leaving him feeling electric. He wanted to run.

Sally looked over the letter again. He was so proud of Larry.

It wasn’t a full scholarship but it was a partial which would pay for classes. He would have to figure out room and board and supplies but it was good.

Except.

It was on the other side of the country. Namely, New York.

Sally’s heart sank.

He felt proud of Larry and excitement for him but this would mean they would be apart.

He bit his tongue and decided not to address it. This was Larry’s moment. He’d worked so hard to get here and he couldn’t ruin it with his selfish wants. They’d figure it out.

Lisa had nearly screamed when they told her. Then, immediately after, she cried and held her son in her arms. She squeezed him tightly and told him how proud she was. They’d agreed that they would all go to dinner to celebrate after graduation. 

Sally should be happy. 

For once, he was glad to have his prosthetic. It made it easy to hide his expression.

Larry wouldn’t start until Fall, so he had the summer to find a place and get accustomed to the area. He would have to get a job, and that was difficult as well. Jobs didn’t grow on trees and apartments in New York weren’t cheap.

When night finally came, it left Sally and Larry alone in his room. Lisa was upstairs moving around the kitchen in a good mood. Not that she ever had bad moods that she showed them. She was usually very calm or cheery, although tired most days.

Sally sat on the floor as he watched Larry play a game. He hugged his knees and leaned against the other.

“Okay, So spill.” Larry paused the game and nudged his boyfriend.

“Hm?” Sally glanced up at him.

“You’ve been really quiet. Are you thinking about that demon thing?” Larry set the controller down and looked at Sally.

“No. I mean, yes? But not really.” Sally had thought of the demon from time to time. It kept him up on nights when he had to sleep alone. But, a lot of things kept him up when he was alone.

“So what’s eating you up?” Larry wanted nothing more than to wrap his boyfriend into his arms and keep him there. Something was bothering Sally and he would always keep it inside, he didn’t want to bother others. But Larry was his boyfriend. What kind of boyfriend was he if he couldn’t make him feel better?

Sally sighed and leaned further into Larry.

“I’m just... I’m gonna miss you.” Sally stared at his knees and idly picked a frayed thread off his pants.

“Why can’t you come with me? New York is probably haunted as hell.” Larry wrapped his arm around Sally’s shoulders and pulled him even closer. “We’ll both start applying for jobs so we can have an income and I’ll go to school and you’ll go bust ghosts for people. I want you there with me, Sal. But only if you wanna be there.”

Sally could feel his throat tightening. 

“I can’t distract you like that, Larry. This is important.” Sally finally looked up at him.

“Sally, you’re important.” Larry shifted a bit, his cheeks heating up as he tried to think of the right words to say. 

“Sally, you’re so fucking important to me. You make me happy, dude. Hell, you calm me down and I can focus on my art because of it. Everything in my portfolio was stuff I made because you were there. Fuck, you’re like, my muse or something. Shit. That sounds really corny huh?” Larry seemed to shrink back a bit, his free hand rubbing at the back of his neck. 

Sally just looked up at him. He could feel hot tears threatening to fall down his face. He’d never felt so important before.

“I want you with me, Sal.”

“Are you proposing?” Sally let out a soft, wet laugh. Larry grinned at him and pushed Sally onto the floor and climbed over him.

“I’m pouring my heart out here and you’re being a dick.” Larry still laughed as he pushed his cold hands up the front of Sally’s shirt. Sally yelped at the sudden touch and started laughing. 

Everything came easy with Larry. Sometimes it scared him how easy things could be, how vulnerable he could be. All because of Larry.

Sally reached up and touched Larry’s face. He wanted to pour his heart out to him. He wanted to go with him. He wanted to live in a stupidly small apartment and come home to him every day. 

“I love you.” Sally’s voice was soft, almost a whisper. But Larry heard him clearly. Larry seemed to freeze for a moment and Sally was almost worried that he shouldn’t have said anything at all, at least, until Larry was pushing up his prosthetic. Larry leaned down and kissed him hard. 

Sally’s eyes shut, his tears rolling down his cheeks as he pulled Larry down closer to kiss him back.

When Larry pulled back just enough to look at Sally, he had a smile on his face and tears in his own eyes.

“I love you, Sally face. So much. I can’t wait until it’s just us together. It’s gonna be awesome.” Larry leaned back in and kissed Sally softly before pressing their foreheads together.

“You’re gonna be such a handful.” Sally kissed him again. His heart was soaring. Larry loved him. He loved him and life was good. They’d have to start job searching and apartment hunting soon, but for now they were going to enjoy their graduation.

“I already am!” Larry carefully moved off of Sally and pulled the smaller close until he was wrapped up in Larry’s arms.

“You’re worth it. Even if you are a brat.” It was a lot to think about; moving out. They’d have to get some kind of loan to start with at least for furniture and a down payment on an apartment. They’d need to start building credit and doing all kinds of adult things. Luckily, their parents were supportive of them and ready to help.

Larry let his fingertips ride back up the back of Sally’s shirt, gently sliding against his skin until Sally shivered. He patted at Larry’s arms again.

“Your mom is upstairs. So keep it PG.” Sally chuckled as Larry gave him a pout.

“Yeah, but soon it’ll be just us. Then you’ll have to deal with me being handsy all the time!” Larry let his hands fall into their laps. Sally was quick to curl his fingers over Larry’s hands. Part of it was to make sure they didn’t drift anywhere they shouldn’t.

“Whatever you say. But until then we’re careful okay?” The last thing Sally wanted was someone to walk in on them, especially because he never really wore his prosthetic when he was alone with Larry.

“Yeah Alright. But maybe the next time we’re alone for sure... could I paint you?” Larry gently squeezed Sally’s hands.

“Oh.” Sally had forgotten that promise.

“I was thinking,” Larry paused. “I would get like non toxic stuff and actually paint you if you were okay with it.”

Sally gave him a confused look.

“Why would you need non toxic?” 

Larry smiled sheepishly.

“Sal. I want to paint you. Like... your body.”

It took a moment for it to click.

Sally felt his body heat up the moment it made sense.

“O-Oh.” He stuttered. That was.. unexpected.

“I could just paint your back or something if you’re not comfortable with more. Of course, if you don’t want it then I won’t do it at all.” 

Dammit. Did Larry always have to be so earnest and considerate?

“No, no. It’s okay.” Sally knew his face was red now. He gave Larry’s hands a squeeze back and he smiled. “When we really have the night alone then you can go to town.”

“Yeah?” Larry was grinning like an idiot now at the promise. It was an idea that was both intimate and sexual. He was excited already.

“Yeah.” Sally leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Non toxic paints and a night alone.”

“It’s a date then.” 

Graduation was longer than anyone expected it to be. Larry was fidgeting and twitching his knee up and down as he waited for people to do their speeches. Todd had given a short and sweet speech and they’d cheered for him then. Of course, that was over half an hour ago and now they were just bored. Waiting for people they didn’t know to give a speech was a fate worse than death.

Ash had gently elbowed Larry in the side.

“Stop moving around so much.” She leaned over to look at Sally who sat opposite of Larry. “Did you let him have caffeine today?”

Sally just chuckled and took Larry’s hand in his own.

“Nope. He’s just anxious to get out of here.” Here was outside on the football field seated in painfully uncomfortable folding chairs while family and friends sat in the bleachers nearby. It was boring but soon they’d all be getting called up.

Beside Sally was Travis, who was sitting with his arms crossed. He had a black eye. Sally had wanted to talk about it but not unless they were alone. He’d only just gotten Travis to trust him and he didn’t want to push him away by brining it up in public.

Ash and Todd were the only ones in their group to have the full robes on. Ash had complained about how warm it was and how she was definitely going to trip over it going up the steps. She’d taken to using her mortarboard as a fan.

“It’s so boring.” Larry sighed and leaned back in his seat.

“Oh can it, Larry. It’s almost done.” Ash smirked and stared down at her phone.

Sally gave Larry’s hand a few pats, trying to ease him. He looked at Travis, who was slumping further down, his dark sunglasses hardly hiding the bruising around his eye.

“Hey,” Sally gently nudged his knee against Travis’s own. “Are you okay?”

Travis looked at him in the corner of his eye and his frown seemed to grow.

“Yeah.” Travis shrugged his shoulders. His eyes drifted to where Sally and Larry’s hands connected before looking away.

“We’re going to dinner after this if you wanna come. We can talk there. If you want.” Sally left it open to him and stared up at the stage.

It was boring. So boring. And of course, they wouldn’t get called one after the other. Once one of them was called they walked up, too their diploma, and joined their families in the bleachers. Luckily, none of them had last names after P. Todd was the first because he was Valedictorian, then came Ash, then Sally.

Larry was alone with Travis now with a seat empty between them. It was awkward. Larry would be the next one to go up to the stage. He bounced his leg again, now that he didn’t have Sally beside him, he was more hyper.

Travis sighed and closed his eyes. They were just barely getting to the J’s now, which meant Larry was so close to freedom. 

“Just so you know,” Larry spoke up, his eyes falling on Sally sitting in the bleachers beside their parents. His heard swelled in his chest at the sight.

“Sally trusts you. He wants to help you. So if you do anything to hurt him.” Larry huffed and glanced at Travis. “I still haven’t forgiven you for the shitty things you said and I’ll never forgive you for punching him.”

Larry stood up as his name was called. 

“He wants to help you, Travis. And I’ll support him.” Larry walked away and headed up to the stage.

Sally and their friends cheered for him as he took his diploma and rushed off stage to join them. 

Travis sat in his seat as he watched Larry reunite with his family, he even placed a quick peck onto the cheek of Sally’s prosthetic. His stomach twisted painfully.

Travis’s own father didn’t come, and if Sally hadn’t encouraged him, he wouldn’t have come either.

Sally nudged Larry as Larry sat beside him.

“What did you say to him?” Sally looked at Travis, who was practically melted into his seat.

“Nothing important.” Larry grinned at him and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

It felt like years of their lives melted away before they finally got to the P’s and soon Travis was drudging up to the stage for his own diploma. 

Todd and Neil had left after Larry received his diploma, Ash had left with her family after she received hers because of the copious amount of photos her family wanted to take. So it was just Sally and Larry waiting with their parents for Travis.

They’d walked down the bleachers and they greeted him as he approached them.

Henry set his hand on Travis’s shoulder and smiled at him while Lisa took the three boys into her arms for a hug. 

“I’m so proud of you all!” She finally pulled back and pulled out her camera. “Picture time!”

“Mom, it’s not prom.” Larry complained with a smile on his face. No, it wasn’t prom. That was next week. That was a whole other thing they hadn’t even talked much about other than renting outfits for it.

“Oh hush!” She moved back and ushered the three together and snapped a few photos.

Well, more like a few hundred.

It took awhile for Larry to convince her that, if they waited too long they would miss their reservations.

So they piled into the car. Sally had opted to sit in the middle seat since he was the smallest. It was awkward because they were still crammed right into the car with Sally pressed close to both of them.

Travis was absolutely silent. He looked like he wanted to scream though.

Larry pulled Sally as close as he could in the cramped car, suddenly very aware of how close Travis was to Sally. He didn’t consider himself as a jealous person, but he sure as hell was protective. Travis had hurt Sally before and he still didn’t trust him. After all, Sally was important to him.

At least the ride wasn’t long.

The five of them were led to their table, Henry and Lisa sat opposite each other, Sally and Larry sat opposite of each other as well but beside their own parent, and Travis sat on Sally’s other side. 

Once their orders were placed, Lisa spoke up.

“So, Travis. Sally said you’re trying to move out?” She gave him a soft smile. 

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah.” Travis fidgeted in his seat, his hands on his glass of water.

“Travis.” Sally put his hand on Travis’s arm. Travis looked at him.

“We all talked before about you moving into the Addison apartments.” Sally dropped his hand. “Since Larry and I are going to New York later, you’d be able to move in. We just want a safe place for you.”

Larry leaned back a bit in his seat. He wanted to be mad that Travis was here and that he was allowed to be so close to Sally after the way he’d behaved. But, at the end of the day he had to support him. And if Sally believed that Travis deserved a second chance, well, then Larry would be on board with it. 

Wait. Had they told their parents that they were both leaving for New York?

“You’re both going?” Henry looked at Sally.

“Oh. Um, Yeah. We talked about it yesterday. At least while Larry is in college and we’ll come back for breaks.” Sally squirmed a bit in his seat. He’d forgotten to tell his dad.

“Oh, Henry. Of course they’re going together.” Lisa smiled and reached across the table to touch his hand. “They’ve been close since they met, of course they have to go together.”

Sally’s cheeks burned. He was going to make sure to call or at least message Lisa on a daily basis. She’d become a mother figure in his life and he hated that he wouldn’t be able to see her every day.

“I guess we never discussed that.” Henry rubbed his chin. “It makes sense I guess.”

“We’re getting off track here...” Sally interjected. This wasn’t about him and Larry. It was about Travis.

“Well,” Henry looked at his son. “If you’re moving out then Travis could always take your room. I mean, if you and Larry come back you have the basement room.”

Travis shifted in his seat at the thought of living in Sally’s room. He pulled at the strings of his hoodie and looked at Sally’s father.

“I’m Uh... already looking for jobs so I can pay rent.”

“Are you going to go to college?” Lisa asked. She unrolled her and Larry’s flatware before handing the cloth napkin to Larry.

“I... maybe. Just community though. At least to start. So I’ll work part time and go to school.” Travis was unsure of himself. He was soft spoken and afraid he was going to say the wrong thing. 

“You could get your general education. You could get financial aid to pay for it.” Sally piped in again. 

“I could?” Travis looked at Sally. He hadn’t thought much about his future. Until recently, he didn’t imagine having one.

“Yeah. Todd can help you with that.” Sally nodded.

“Wait, Sal, are you going to college then?” Henry really wanted to revisit the very new knowledge of his son moving across the country.

“Oh. Uh. No.” Now Sally felt like squirming. 

“He’s gonna have a job and he and Todd are gonna get their project off the ground.” Larry spoke up, chest swelling with pride for his boyfriend.

“Project?” Henry looked at Larry now.

“They tested it the other night and it kicked ass.” Larry grinned before he was elbowed by his mom.

“Language.”

“Sorry sorry.” Larry laughed. “I’m just proud. It can help a lot of people.”

Sally’s cheeks were really burning now.

“So what’s the project?” Henry was looking back at his son.

“It’s uh, still a secret for now. Until we know it works for sure anyways.” 

“Aw, even from your old man?” Henry chuckled and pulled Sally in for a one armed hug. “Whatever happens, I’m proud of you, Sal.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Sally felt almost overwhelmed. There was a lot of people that supported and loved him and it was something he never thought he could have. 

The night carried on with a comfortable conversation, Sally tried to bring Travis into the conversation from time to time to get him to ease up. Larry spent most of his time bothering Sally by pressing his feet against Sally’s feet and ankles. When he tried to climb to high Sally gave him a swift kick in the shin. Larry had grunted and nearly doubled over into his dinner.

They dropped Travis off at his house and agreed that they would rent a small moving truck and get him out by the next weekend. Which meant that Sally and Larry were going to use the week to move all of Sally’s belongings to Larry’s room.

For tonight though, they settled on moving Sally’s important items downstairs. There was no point in boxing anything up since they were just going downstairs. Plus, they’d have to pack soon to move anyways.

Sally was in the bathroom putting his things away with Larry’s while Larry cleaned out room in the closet for Sally’s clothes. He looked at their clothes hung together and couldn’t stop the smile on his face. Having Sally’s items in his space felt good. Well, in their space. His heart was full. He couldn’t remember ever being this happy.

The light in the bathroom shut off and Sally stepped out without his prosthetic on. Larry only grinned wider.

“What’re you so happy for?” Sally moved over to help him with the clothes.

“I get to have you with me. Like, all the time. I get to go to sleep with you there and wake up to you.” Larry cupped Sally’s cheeks and kissed him. Sally hummed pleasantly at the touch and stood on his toes to press into it.

They pulled apart and smiled at each other.

“I’m so excited for this. We’ll get to be together in New York, we can adventure and see stupid shows and just... be together.” Larry grinned again, his hands dropping to Sally’s waist. He tugged him just a bit closer. “I’ve already looked up haunted stuff down there and I bet it would be easy to find clients.”

Sally just hummed again and curled his fingers into the front of Larry’s shirt.

“We should start looking into jobs and apartments first. The ghosts can wait a bit.” 

“Yeah. But as soon as we start getting enough money, we’re getting a bigger bed.” Larry waggled his eyebrows at Sally and Sally just burst into laughter.

Everything would be okay because they had each other. Together, they could face anything.


End file.
